Plumes of smoke from an active volcano welcome visitors to Stromboli, a remote scrap of land off the North coast of Sicily. This rumbling beast never sleeps, making the island – the fabled seat of Aeolus, Greek ruler of the winds – feel like the edge of the world.

Just 500 people live on Stromboli, made famous by Roberto Rossellini’s 1949 film of the same name. But despite the volcano’s threatening presence, it has long attracted an artistic crowd. Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović lived here for five years, and Italian artists Giovanni Anselmo and Mimmo Paladino also made it their home.

Since 2011, Stromboli has played host to an annual art and music festival, Volcano Extravaganza. This free public event is presented by Fiorucci Art Trust, which invites a cohort of creatives from across the world to harness the raw power of nature.

Our sister brand The Vinyl Factory made the annual pilgrimage to the festival earlier this month. For the second year running, it curated the music programme, enlisting the talents of Icelandic musician Ragnar Kjartansson, DJ, artist and poet Juliana Huxtable and electronic duo Tempers, who wrote lyrics inspired by the island.

In this photo essay, The Vinyl Factory’s Michael Wilkin leads us on a tour of the Stromboli landscape, its white-washed villas – including Abramović’s former home – and one the world’s most remote music venues: Club Mega.