In Sicily, many things are different. Even fire and water. In other places the two elements stand in irreconcilable contradiction to each other. But on the Aeolian Islands off Sicily’s northeastern coast, the two merge to create a unique landscape, one of lava-spewing volcanoes rising up from glittering blue ocean waves. For German vulcanologist Boris Behncke, the region stretching from Mount Etna in eastern Sicily to the Aeolian Islands in the north is a paradise on earth. “Each and every day I am living my childhood dream here,” the scientist says. Behncke works at the Italian Institute for …