Ginostra boasts of having the smallest harbor in the world, allowing only the landing of small fishing boats while ferry ships and hydrofoils are forced to anchor about 200-300 m from the coast, and passengers are brought from or to Ginostra in a small wooden boat. The population of the island is now only a fraction of what it was about 100 years ago. Besides the volcanic threat, the main reason for this emigration was the low standard of life on the island, a situation which was the same on the other Aeolian islands. Since the early 1950s there has been a progressive increase in the number of visitors coming to the island. Many of the homes abandoned by their original residents have been bought by Germans and residents of other central European countries.
Many tourists solely come to see the volcano.
The most salient morphological features are highlighted. The summit area of the volcano is much more complex than the view of the island from some distance would suggest. Both crests are the remainders of older volcanic edifices that underwent sector collapse and were consequently partly filled by younger edifices. Erosion has carved deep ravines into the outer slopes of these older edifices, and a broad slope covered with ash from the recent activity extends from the summit area to the sea on the SE side of the island. This depression formed by the collapse of a portion of the volcanic edifice maybe only 5000 years ago.