Aiglon Viaggi - Island of Elba: information about the villages of Portoferraio, Capoliveri, Marciana Marina, Marina di Campo ...

Portoferraio, the capital of Elba: the island's capital town only 4 km distant, is accessed also by local bus. Founded by the Romans, Cosimo de Medici and his Florentine successors built the fortress, a masterpiece of military architecture, so perfect that it was considered one of the safest places in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1814 Napoleon arrived on Elba and profoundly marked the territory and the economic and social fabric of the city and indeed of the whole island.
Portoferraio is now a flourishing town, an established cultural centre ( with an international classical music festival held each September, a conference hall, a small restored theatre, the more important museums), and has well organised docks, a good shopping area and each Friday it hosts the island's biggest open-air general market.


A "MUST" on your holiday itinerary is a visit to the "Villa della Linguella" with it's small museum, the Villa Romana delle Grotte (2 kms out of town), Napoleons Museum/Villa San Martino (1 km), the Medici forts surrounding the town with Napoleons "Villa Mulini", Forte Stella, Forte Falcone, Torre del Martello; the Teatro dei Vigilanti (originally a deconsecrated church transformed by Napoleon into a theatre); the beautiful churches - Duomo, Chiesa della Reverenda Misericordia (where you can admire a bronze mask and hand cast of Napoleon) - the Chiesa SS.Sacramento and La Biscotteria (Town Hall); the Pinacoteca Foresiana picture gallery contains works by Signorini, Cannici, Nomellini, Cigheri, Bilivert and other famous artists. Browsing around the streets in the old town centre is a pleasant way to discover "hidden" angles of everyday life from the local bakers shop to numerous handicraft boutiques.

Campo nell’Elba is only the name of the borough created in 1894 after the separation from Marciana of which it still has the coat of arms in the communal symbol.
None of the villages are actually called by this name. Among some of the best known as tourist resorts are Marina di Campo, Fetovaia, Seccheto and Cavoli. The hillside villages of San Piero and S. Ilario are picturesque and certainly worth a visit.
On this part of the island the vegetation is short and sparse due to lack of rain and the south facing position open to the libeccio wind and salty atmosphere. The landscape is much different on the northern side of the same mountain, covered in green chestnut woods that are hundreds of years old. On the other hand the climate of this area is favourable for the cultivation of vines.


The name itself indicates the presence of a large plain extending to the Gulf of Campo and a beautiful beach. It was this conformation that encouraged pirates to land here.
Here there are numerous places of great interest, for instance the Torre (Tower) of Marina di Campo built in the time of the Medici and the church of S. Nicolò at S. Piero which is thought to, have been built in the Roman era on the ruins of a temple dedicated to the god Glauco.
The striking church of S. Giovanni at S. Ilario is probably the most vast primitive temple of Christianity, erected on Elba. Also interesting are the Torre di S. Giovanni, the church of S. Francesco and the Columns of Roman times at Seccheto. One mustn’t forget the island of Pianosa, which, after the closing of the prison, can only be visited by organised trips. Market day: Wednesday.

It is this village which more than any has kept it’s medieval aspect with the houses built along the narrow lanes, tiny squares, granite doorways, narrow roads paved in the typical Elba stone. Here you find sea and mountains, hills and plains.
This area, located inland and therefore more safe from pirate invasions, started to develop under the domination of Pisa, followed by the Appiani, princes of Piombino who chose Marciana as their residence and built the town walls.
For centuries it’s inhabitants dedicated themselves to working with iron, then to sheep farming and agriculture. Among the main centres is Poggio in which, like Marciana, the centre is not for cars, with it’s narrow lanes leading to fascinating little squares. Known for it’s healing waters, it has an especially temperate microclimate which makes it a real health resort also due to the presence of pure water springs among which the “Fonte Napoleone”, so called as it was used by the Emperor. It is from Marciana that Mount Capanne rises up to a height of 1019 meters, making it the highest on Elba.


Among the interesting places to visit are the church of San Lorenzo on the old road from Marciana to Marciana Marittima: a national monument in Romanic style, destroyed by the Turks in 1554. The Fortress erected at the time of the Pisan Republic where the village inhabitants would go to defend themselves from enemy invasions.
One should definitely not miss a visit to the Church of S. Nicolò at Poggio, built on two ramparts of an ancient fortress, and probably dating back to the 13th century, and also to the Church of S. Cerbone, erected by the Elbans in honour of the Saint on the site where he took refuge from Populonia when it was invaded by the Longbards in 570.
The Shrine of the Madonna del Monte is strongly tied to the memory of Napoleon, it is the oldest on Elba, built in the 13th century and remodelled up till the 17th century: in the summer of 1814 the Emperor stayed there for a few days and met with Maria Walewska, his polish mistress who he met at Warsaw.
Places to visit: The archaeological Museum and the House of the Tuscan Arcipelago National Park at Marciana.

Marciana Marina lies approximately 20 kilometres from Portoferraio and is one the borough most open to the sea. It was founded in 1884 after it became independent from Marciana.
Originally Marciana Marina was only a fortified tower built by the Pisans in the 12th century. It started to develop when the danger of pirate invasions eventually ceased.
It’s historical centre, where one can admire the houses with outside staircases, perched on the clifftop, is known as Cotone (from the word “cote” which means great stone) and where a small inlet gave mooring and shelter to the fishing boats.


The town centre and the seafront still preserve the original urbanistic architecture of the 1800s, typical of the towns of the Tuscan and Ligurian coastline.
Market day: Tuesday.

The Capoliveri District covers for 39.51 Km2 and counts less than 3,000 inhabitants (2,808 on 1st January 1996), highly concentrated in the town centre that only in these last decades expanded itself in new quarters outside the ancient town walls. The whole town is gathered around the top of an isolated ridge and was founded during the Etruscan-Roman age as a hill fortress in a strategically position from where it was possible to control both the Western and the Southern sea and, from some higher places, to even look at the Northern sea and Portoferraio itself - the ancient Roman town called Fabricia.

This is one of the most interesting places on the island and was acquainted with the Etruscan presence, due to the great economic importance of iron mines and the trade the Rasenna - so the Etruscans called themselves - extended over their confederation's frontier.


One of the most representative votive statuettes of that age, the "Offerer", is contained at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and was found out in the Profico necropolis, not very far from the town centre. Besides this one, we can observe a large number of ancient finds such as coins, fibulas, little vases and urns.

Capoliveri was founded as an elevated and fortified place surrounded by large walls on the top of a hill 167 m high. Its profile is ship-shaped with its prow towards the sea. The town was also known during the Latin age as "Capitis Ilvae" "Caput Liberum" and "Caput Liseri" or "Liveri".
Marketday: Thursday.

The city, 3100 inhabitants, lies in a protected bay of the golf of 'Mola', which was used since ever as a natural port of call on the nautic routs of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
In the beginning of the 16th. century, it was the Spaniards, who, under the recomandation of the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, planned to build a fortification on the eastern side of the gulf in order to close the bay.
Together with the fortress 'Focardo' on the other side, this became the defensive system of the gulf, base of Filippo III's fleet. This defensive system was made to contain the military raise of the grand duc of Tuscany, who, with the fortifications of Portoferraio, owned a strategic stronghold in the Tyrrhenian Sea , from which he was able to seriously endanger the Spanish interests in this part of the Mediterranean Sea. The city was attached to the reign of Naples in 1714 until 1801, when it was left to the French who occupied the whole Tuscany.

In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, it was again attached to the grand duchy of Tuscany, until the unification of Italy.
During the 18th. and 19th. century, together with Portoferraio and Marciana Marina, Porto Azzurro was one of the main fishing centers of the island, with a strong immigration of fishermen from Naples, Ponza and Genoa.
The small town center is very beautiful with its narrow roads, stone houses, enchanting angels, corners and squares, and the large, vivid mail square directly on the sea and the harbour.
To visit are: the Church of Madonna di Monserrato, built during the 17th. century by the spanish governor Leon. The immage of the Virgin still conserved in the church, is said to be an identical copy of the one one can see in the church in Spain with the same name. The fortress of S. Giacomo, the prison's headquarters, a spanish fortress built during the 17th. century: sales of very interesting handicrafts. The Spanish Church (Chiesa Spagnola) with a marble statue of the general Diego D'Alarcson.
In the territory around the city, a part a vivid tourism, exists today a non neglectable agriculture (fruits and wine) and in the surroundings one can admire beautiful cultivated fields, specially in the valleys of 'Mola', 'Montserrato' and 'Reale'. Marketday: Saturday.

This is one of the oldest villages on Elba, situated on a hill 155 meters above sea level. Since prehistoric times Rio nell’Elba has been an important mining centre.
Legend tells that it was the Etolii, the first rulers of elba, that founded the village exploiting it’s rich waters. It is certain that, in the 12th century, the Pisans fortified the inhabited part, creating the nucleus, which is now the church of Ss. Giacomo and Quirico Martyr.
Actually nearly all the houses were constructed like fortified ramparts and afterwards were made more attractive with balconies and artistic doorways. The public-park and garden is a charming site with numerous shops selling minerals. The public washhouse at the bottom of the village is a fascinating place and unique on the island.


The arrival of the tourist industry has not spoilt the original village and the houses are as they were centuries ago.
The mining area of Rio have been classified as real geological monuments, among the most valuable in the world, so much so that Unesco has put them on the list of the “World Heritage provisional List of Geological Sites”.
There are many interesting sites for archaeology fans, finds of instruments from the paleolithic and neolithic periods as well as a burial site from the between the 8th and the 6th century b.C. One should certainly visit the Castle of Volterraio, built in the 11th century by Vanni di Gherardo Rau, on the top of a cliff, during the rule of Pisa, also the interesting church of S. Caterina from the 17th century and the Oratory of the SS. Trinità, as well as the Mineral Museum Alfeo Ricci and the House of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park.
Market day: Tuesday

This was the “ town of iron” up until the 1960s when mining activities gave way to the development of the tourist industry. However the true “nature” of this town can still be seen in the red iron ore colour of the houses and on the beach, shaped like an amphitheatre.
It has 1800 inhabitants and became administratively independent from Rio nell’Elba in 1882. Among the most interesting historical and cultural sites to visit is the Torre dell’Orologio (Clock tower) built on an octagonal plan by Giacomo d’Aragona and in which the clock itself was installed at the end of the 1800s.
The Mineral Museum in the Municipal building is very interesting with over 700 examples of minerals found on Elba. A visit to the Oratory of S. Rocco is a must, built by the Prince of Piombino in the 16th century in the town centre.


There are several excursions that leave from Rio Marina: for instance a trip along the panoramic road of the Porticciolo, to the Torre del Giove or to the Monte Grosso. There are also trips to the islands of Palmaiola, Cerboli and the tiny island of the Topi.
Market day: Monday in the town centre and Wednesday in the village of Cavo.