Explore Tuscany
Nearly 30km long by some 20km wide, ELBA is Italy’s third-largest island. Ever since Napoleon was exiled here, it has been captivating visitors. It has exceptionally clear water, fine white-sand beaches, and a lush, wooded interior, superb for walking; almost everyone, including a surge of package tourists in July and August, comes for the beach resorts, so the inland villages remain largely quiet even in high season.
Historically, Elba has been well out of the mainstream. The principal industry until World War II was mining, especially of iron ore. The Romans wrote of “the island of good wines” – a reputation Elban wines retain to this day – while control in later centuries passed from Pisa to Genoa and on to the Medici, Spain, Turkey and finally France. That cosmopolitan mix has left its legacy on both architecture and cultivation. Most people know the island as the place of exile for Napoleon, who, after he was banished here in May 1814, revamped education and the legal system, built roads and modernized the economy before escaping back to France in February 1815.
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Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago Toscano
Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago Toscano
All seven Tuscan Islands, and the seas around them, form the Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago Toscano, the largest protected marine park in Europe. You can take a ferry from Portoferraio or Porto Azzurro to various smaller islands, and from Marina di Campo in the south you can visit the beautiful island of Pianosa, an uninhabited former military base, with great beaches and abundant wildlife. See w parks.it and w islepark.it for further information.
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Elba’s best beaches
Elba’s best beaches
No less than 156 beaches dot Elba’s rocky coast, from little-visited shingly coves to broad white-sand stretches. The island’s best-known beaches can get suffocatingly packed in high season, but if you don’t mind negotiating the ranks of baking bodies on sunloungers, they offer all the facilities you could wish for, from snack bars to diving centres. The big five are fine-sand Procchio; Fetovaia, with its crystal-clear water; beautiful Cavoli, a sandy arc in a sheltered bay where you can swim well out of season; Marina di Campo, a full-blown resort; and Biodola, occupying an idyllic sweeping bay near Portoferraio. To avoid the worst of the crowds, however, head to one of the beaches below.
Acquavivetta
Not far from Sansone, this shingly beach is backed by high rocks. The gently sloping seashore makes it a good spot for swimming, especially if you have kids in tow.
Cotoncello
Reachable from the beach at Sant’Andrea, this small patch of sandy beach has a natural pool of clear, shallow water formed by two tongues of rock.
Forno
In the bay of Biodola, sandy Forno is less busy than Biodola beach itself, set in a lovely little bay, surrounded by villas and dense vegetation. There’s a restaurant here (though it’s the island’s most expensive), as well as snack bars.
La Guardia
Also known as La Polveraia, this sheltered shingly beach on the island’s western coast is always fairly quiet, even in high season. The dark rocks here plunge sheer to the transparent water below.
Sansone
A dazzling stretch of shingle, enclosed by sheer white cliffs and lapped by clear water.
Sant’Andrea
A lovely, fine-sand beach, well set up with sun loungers, parasols and beach bars. A natural rocky barrier keeps the water shallow, and you can rent boats, windsurf and dive here too.
