The tuscan islands: a paradise in the sea

The Tuscan seaside and beaches: the seven stars of the Tyrrhenian Sea

A legend tells that the goddess Venus, at the time of emerging from the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, let go of seven pearls of the necklace that she wore around her neck which, falling into the sea, turned into the seven islands of the Tuscan Archipelago.

Capraia – The natural dolphinarium
Elba – The pearl among the pearls
Giannutri – The crescent of the goddesses
Giglio – The flower of the Tuscan archipelago
Gorgona – The smallest pearl
Montecristo – The island of the monastery
Pianosa – The island of ghosts

The islands are located in front of the Tuscan Maremma and not far from the coasts of Corsica: Elba is the largest followed by Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Pianosa, Giannutri and finally Gorgona, the smallest. Other smaller, dry and rocky islands are included in the archipelago.

The archipelago is bathed by four seas: the Ligurian Sea to the north of the island of Elba, the Piombino Canal to the east, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the south and the Corsica Channel to the west of the Elban coasts. The islands of Capraia, Pianosa, Gorgona, Montecristo and Elba belong to the province of Livorno (Maremma Livorno). The islands of Giannutri and Giglio are located in front of the Monte Argentario and belong to the province of Grosseto (Maremma Grosseto).

Capraia

The island forms an autonomous municipality in the province of Livorno with a population of around 300 inhabitants. There are two inhabited centers that overlook the largest island creek exposed to the east: the core of the port, a simple and graceful seaside hamlet, and the town, the oldest village near the fort of San Giorgio. Frequented by the most ancient navigators and home to a Roman residential settlement, Capraia was also the object of raids by Saracen and Turkish pirates. Modern history has instead seen the development of an agricultural penal colony, active from the second half of the nineteenth century until 1986, which occupied the northern portion of the island.

Elba

The island has a vaguely triangular shape, but extremely articulated due to the coastline characterized by numerous gulfs and promontories that break the insular perimeter. The territory is mostly mountainous and hilly: the granitic western massif consists of some peaks and culminates in Monte Capanne which reaches 1019 meters above sea level; in the central sector Monte Orello is found 385 m in the eastern one the greatest relief is that of Cima del Monte 516 m. There are few flat areas located mostly near the wider southern bays.
The beach of Lacona is one of the most beautiful on the island.
The Island of Elba is famous and much loved by travelers for its wild and unspoiled nature, for its crystal clear sea and for its beaches of all types and colors. Among the 10 most beautiful are the beach of Sansone, in Portoferraio, a small strip of white gravel that can be reached by a path that starts from the beach of Sorgente.

Pianosa

Of the III and IV centuries it is an important Christian catacomb, located near the small town. It was the Pisans who built a small inhabited nucleus that was destroyed in the 16th century during Turkish raids. After an attempt at agricultural colonization in the early nineteenth century, it was the site of an important agricultural penal colony, then a maximum security prison, which occupied the entire pianosina area. The island territory was therefore divided into two realities separated by a large reinforced concrete wall: the prison area, with branches and land cultivated by prisoners and the smallest portion of the town, a nucleus inhabited by prison staff and those who performed services for the community. After the decommissioning of the prison Pianosa remained almost uninhabited and only in 1999 was it opened for guided tours.

Montecristo

Montecristo is the fourth largest island in the Tuscan Archipelago with a surface area of 10.4 sq km and is the farthest from the continental coast which is about 63 km away. From the administrative point of view its territory is annexed to the municipality of Portoferraio and to the province of Livorno of which it represents the southernmost portion. Perhaps a place of worship dedicated to Jupiter in Roman times, it hosted San Mamiliano in the fifth century, fleeing the Vandals. Home to a flourishing monastic community until the 16th century and the subject of attempts at agricultural colonization in the 19th century, the island is today uninhabited and devoid of any service.

Gorgona

The main center of the island is a small village that crowns the marina. Going up towards the interior there are two ancient fortifications: the Torre Vecchia, Pisan, and the Torre Nova, Medici. Interesting is the Church of San Gorgonio, fortified, while Villa Margherita, built on Roman remains, today is the seat of the penitentiary. At the top of the island is the complex of the second half of the nineteenth century that originally housed the abandoned lighthouse in 1975. There is evidence of the presence of man on the island since the Neolithic. The island was inhabited in a discontinuous manner in the 12th-13th century and subjected to frequent barbarian incursions. Monks and small military garrisons resisted guarding the island until the seventeenth century. After a period of abandonment in 1869, the agricultural penal colony was established, still an active prison.

Giannutri

The southern of the Tuscan islands, emerges from the waters of the Tyrrhenian like a white crescent of limestone. Along the 11 kilometers of coastline rocky cliffs prevail where caves and cracks originate from the action of the wind. The only landing points on the island: Cala Spalmatoio and Cala Maestra have two small pebble beaches. All around splendid backdrops rich in biodiversity where dolphins and whales frequently swim. There is no spring water and the few dwellings present are located around the marina and dispersed in the scrub. However, the fascination of nature takes precedence over the visitor and hikers can enjoy enchanting sceneries along the different paths that extend along the offshoots towards Monte Mario and Poggio Capel Rosso.
The reception to the public is active only in the good season when some shops and refreshment points are open.

Giglio

The island of Giglio is included in the province of Grosseto and is common to Giannutri, with a population of about 1550 inhabitants distributed in the three small inhabited centers: Giglio Castello, the ancient medieval inhabited center of the Town Hall, maze of steep alleys enclosed by walls that culminate with the imposing Rocca Pisana; Giglio Porto, the island’s landing place, where the last vestiges of the Roman villa belonging to the Enobarbi family are buried under the houses built in the following centuries; the fraction of Campese that faces west on the largest beach of the island and that originates from the mining settlement for the extraction of pyrite exploited since prehistoric times and closed in 1964.

Come to Tuscany, you will discover ancient towns, the famous Hills with the Wine, bautiful landscapes and the wonderful coast with the islands!

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