Capraia island
Capraia
Capraia island
Where
Capraia Island is one of the islands of the archipelago farthest from the mainland coast, located 54 km out in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and about 40 km from both Elba and Gorgona, situated to the north-east.
Capraia island
Capraia Island is one of the islands of the archipelago farthest from the mainland coast, located 54 km out in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and about 40 km from both Elba and Gorgona, situated to the north-east.
Capraia, known in antiquity to the Greeks as Aigylion and to the Romans as Capraria, is the third largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago and the most distant from the mainland. Located in the heart of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it lies geographically closer to Corsica than to the Tuscan coast.
It is the only island in the archipelago of volcanic origin, characterised by rugged reliefs culminating in Monte Castello (445 m), high rocky coastlines and landscapes of extraordinary natural power.
The earliest traces of human presence on the island date back to the Neolithic period, when settlement is attested near Monte Castello. Pottery fragments, spindle whorls, a millstone and obsidian tools have been discovered here, demonstrating Capraia’s role along the ancient maritime route linking Corsica and Sardinia with the mainland.
The charm of an almost mystical experience on one of the most isolated and wild pearls of the Tuscan Archipelago.
Later, it is believed to have first served as an Etruscan naval base and then certainly as a Roman centre controlling maritime routes in an anti-Carthaginian key. Near the Church of the Assunta, a column base, a bust of Venus and a marble sarcophagus were recovered, suggesting the probable existence of a sacred area.
In Late Antiquity, from the 4th century AD onward, Capraia hosted an early Christian hermit community that chose to live in complete isolation. During the 5th century, they were followed by cenobitic monks who introduced African vines and built the Monastery of Santo Stefano. This community is the first recorded in written sources and was apparently well known, as Rutilius Namatianus mentions it in De Reditu Suo in 416 AD.
From the 9th century onward, Capraia became the scene of continuous clashes with pirates. It was first abandoned for almost two centuries, then alternately reoccupied by the Pisans and pirates until the Battle of Meloria in 1284, which placed it under Genoese influence. From 1540 onward, Genoa built the defensive system consisting of the Fortress of San Giorgio and three watchtowers.
From 1873 to 1986, the island was home to an agricultural penal colony, which caused a large-scale emigration of the native population.
Today Capraia Island offers the opportunity for a visit and a stay that will immerse you in a paradise of serenity and peace, in close contact with nature and with a thousand-year history.
History, Archaeology
