The Tuscan archipelago: travel Elba and Giglio islands

A trip in the Thyrrenian pearls, some popular as Elba and Giglio islands, other still to be discovered, as Pianosa and Capraia: unspoiled beaches, astonishing landscapes and long walkings in the Mediterranean bush.

Myths, legends, history. Although mass tourism has discovered it, Elba island mantains its unique charme due to Etruscan memories and to the beauty and delight of its beaches, its sea, its Mediterranean landscapes. The legend says that when the Thyrrenian Venus was born out of the waves, the jewel adorning her brake and its pearls fell in the water turning into Elba and the other islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

Elba is the widest island of the archipelago and the third bigger in Italy. It lays 10 kilometers from the coast, is 224 square kilometers wide, has 147 kilometers of coasts, counts about 30.000 inhabitants and 8 municipalities. The crossing takes between 20 minutes (by hydrofoil) and one hour (by ferry-boat) but there is also a small international airport in Marina di Campo. Loved by Italian and foreign (above all German) tourists, it boasts a modern and equiped tourist structure.

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In our circumnavigation of Elba, we get closer to Lacuna Gulf, where the sea water is amazingly blue. Going on East we reach Capoliveri, small village on the Northern side of Calamita Mount, it looks to the gulf of Porto Azzurro on the one side and to Stella gulf on the other. It was founded by the Romans that also gave it its name: "Caput Liberum" (Free Cape). On the Eastern descent of Capolivieri is the elegant Sactuary of Graces that shows pictures ascribed to the Raffaello school.

The scents of the Mediterranean bush ravish the air in whole Eastern part of the island, the minerary area between Porto Azzurro and Rio dell'Elba. The first is placed on the widest bay of this part of Elba and lays at the feet of the promontory ending in the Longone fortress, built in 1563 by Filippo II of Spain. It is a pitoresque village: tiny roads on the climb, small stone fronts, evocative corners and a large square that mirrors it-self in the waters of the port. The second is an ancient Medieval village, castled on a hill 178 meters on the sea level. Rio dell'Elba is one of the villages richest in history and traditions of the whole island. Since prehistory it has been an important minerary centre and its history is gathered in the Alfeo Ricci Museum.

Although Elba is the most visited island, the others may be as enchanting as it: Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Pianosa, Gorgona and Giannutri. All together they form the largest sea-park in Italy and Europe, the National Park of the Tuscanian Archipelago, established in 1996 and gathering 60.000 hectares of sea.

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Some of the seven islands were isolated for a long time, what granted the quality of unique ecosystems in the Mediterranean. Above all Pianosa and Gorgona, former jail-islands, are characterised by a flora and a fauna rich in rarities.

Just a few words about Giglio Island, placed in the centre of the Thyrrhene Sea at 11 miles from the Argentario promontory. The crystal emerald sea and 28 kilometers of rocky and sandy coasts, frame a land at 90% wild that invites to adventures on the many foot ways. Its ridge reaches 496 meters in the Poggio della Pagana, from there in shiny days you can admire an amazing view of the archipelago.

Vacanze all'isola d'Elba e l'Isola del Giglio

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