© I. Fornasiero
While all the islands of Cape Verde are volcanic, only one is still active, so much so that it has earned the name Ilha do Fogo. Fascinating in its morphology, surreal in its colours, miraculous in its fertile black soil, mysterious in the descent of a people with clear eyes and blond hair, admirable in the gratitude, respect and veneration that these brave inhabitants reserve for the great “Lord of Fire”, the volcano of Pico do Fogo, the highest peak in the country.
In 150 years, no less than 30 eruptions have occurred in Fogo, the last two in 1995 and 2014 being particularly devastating, opening a new caldera and burying entire villages and crops. But they also cleansed, fertilised and renewed a land that was promptly rebuilt and brought to new life.
The ascent to Pico do Fogo (2823 m), allows us to clearly see the marked lines of the ancient condensed lava flows, which form spontaneous, surreal undulations and morphological sculptures. Everything is pitch black in Fogo, including the immense coastal expanse of sand that frames the island, and the houses, built from the local stone and clay. While rivers of lava have created a ghostly, lunar landscape around the caldera, where nothing grows, the green of the vineyards, coffee plantations, gardens and orchards on the north-eastern slope contrasts with the dark earth, creating truly evocative views and landscapes.
On the volcano, at the base of the crater, only the resilience of 1000 souls has allowed the village of Cha das Caldeiras to rise like the Phoenix from its own ashes, punctually rebuilt after each eruption, in religious veneration of a volcano that is their very identity, their economy, their reason for living.
Here, the blond hair and light-coloured eyes of the inhabitants contrast with the surrounding landscape and the dark skin of an origin that is still partly legendary. They are the direct descendants of the French Count Armand de Montrond, exiled in 1860 after a duel gone wrong, who took refuge in Fogo while waiting for a ship to take him to Brazil. Tradition has it that he found twelve wives and fathered a hundred children on the island and remained there. It is said that it was he who imported wine-growing to the volcanic valleys, which still produce a world-famous wine of the highest quality, Manecom, which can easily be tasted in Cha or on the coast, in Sao Felipe, the capital with its fascinating colonial architecture, the sobrados, the homes of the Portuguese notables, with their characteristic pastel colours and wrought-iron balconies that refine the façades.
