Parks in the province of Livorno

Tuscan Archipelago National Park

Seen from these islands seem to set the gems in the blue mantle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, just as the legend tells that wants pearls necklace falls from Venus. More than pearls but it is the view of emerald vegetation that covers the seven rocky land, so different from one another by extension, origin and geological history. Together they form part of the largest marine park in Europe, included in the International Sanctuary for marine mammals, namely the marine protected area larger than the Mediterrane that was established under an international agreement to protect a vast stretch of sea French , Italian and Monegasque.

Tuscan islands are also a major migratory bridge between Europe and central african continent: you can observe Spectacular flights of multiple species

From an administrative point of view the seven islands fall within the province of Grosseto and Livorno.

Gorgona Island

His profile predominantly mountainous and cloaked in fragrant maquis stands all 'northern extremity of the archipelago. Walking along the coast facing the bay Cala Scirocco where there is the Grotta del Bue Marino, once the refuge of monk seals.
Few are the Roman ruins, some traces remain of the community And the Benedictine monks who first created terraced areas for agricultural cultivation. Were mostly hermits or exiled for a while that 'they had to try to resist the fierce incursions of pirates. The time of the raids in the Mediterranean, the island has remained a sort of forced residence in the middle of the sea. So it was for the families of very good and that the government Dodoli Florentine removal from the countryside of Lucca, so it is for prisoners the penal colony that houses since 1869.

Directions: from the port of Livorno, there are frequent connections with ferries.

Island of Capraia

Criminal, such as Gorgona and Pianosa, until a few years ago, this island was spared from the havoc of un'edilizia wild, keeping intact the ecosystem of the coast overlooking the sea, interrupted by a sandy beach. Of particular fascination Red is set to be marked, with the last light of the sun, colors of blood and where it is said lived a colony of monk seals, which are no longer seen for years.

You can observe traces of 'this island of volcanic origin in the lava flows at Mount Zenobio of, and in many valleys formed by erosion and crossed from short and steep streams. Here, where nature reigns absolutely, a few residents of the village lies the promontory of Punta Ferraione up the walls of Fort St. George. Erected by the Republic of Genoa on a spur, a defensive end, was the refuge of the population in case of attack by pirates.
Directions: from the port of Livorno, there are frequent connections with ferries.

Isola d'Elba

This island is the island varies from a geomorphologic, the largest and the highest peak, Mount Capanne that during the winter months, it is sometimes dusted by a soft blanket of snow. Legend has it that the first to land on its shores were the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, from those beginnings mitici many people have succeeded in this: the Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Lombards, Pisa, Livorno, Spanish, Medici and the French settled in turn in this land, founding cities, erigendo wall, dedicating temples to the gods.

Today visit the island of Elba is to discover a coastline where the sandy coastline alternates to isolated coves and spectacular cliffs, taste the flavors of fine cuisine, wines produced in this intense area to know the art preserved in museums In its churches and its houses, trees lost in country lanes perched on a sea blue, allow time for the absolute rest at the Baths of San Giovanni . For this and other reasons which you will discover once you arrive, we suggest a holiday in this island which is easy to reach any other destination of the Tuscan Archipelago.

Getting there: you start with the ferries from the port of Piombino.

Island Pianosa

At first sight the island visitors can seem very inhospitable with its coastline strewn with jagged rocks and from different inlets, but once inside insinuatosi the landscape changes radically: the terrain gives way to a wide plain, from which the island takes its name. Its appearance has led Pianosa has been inhabited since ancient times, even some Paleolithic caves in Punta Secca and Cala Giovanna testify human presence 18,000 years ago already. In that remote land that was connected to peninsula, as evidenced by the discovery of bones of animals such as deer, the bear and the ox, which could not represent the fauna of an island. Reaching Cala Giovanna is also possible to admire some Roman ruins on the island, bathrooms and the villa of Agrippa, exiled in the heart of the Tuscan Archipelago by his uncle, the Emperor Augustus. The archaeological treasures of Pianosa are not only in surface but also hidden in the bowels of the earth where, between the third and fourth centuries BC, the catacombs were dug by the prisoners Christians condemned to work in the quarries of the tuff. Teglia on the promontory, stands the fort built by Napoleon, where was the leadership of the prison closed only recently.

Getting there: The island is reached by taking the ferries departing from Porto Azzurro (Tuesday only) and from the port of Marina di Campo in the summer all day.

Island of Montecristo

The further from the coast is the 'island of treasure that was found between its gorges by Edmond dantes famous character was born from the pen of Alexandre Dumas. For visitors who arrive the island has in store yet magnificent treasures, no more chests containing valuable items, but that the immense wealth of wildlife that has no comparison with any other island the islands.

Always its inhospitable appearance has helped to keep the land pristine granite, which for centuries has been the target of pirates and of hermits, which are permanently visible the ruins of the convent of St. Mamiliano, built on the slopes of Mount Fortress, above the cave where the saint was a refugee after having killed a dragon. But these were not the only inhabitants of the island, during the of solitary gentlemen landed there, was the first time the rich English George Watson Taylor, and then the Marquis Carlo Ginori in Florence who transformed the island into a hunting reserve. To remember their passage remains today the Villa Reale, converted into guest quarters to accommodate researchers.

Conquer its coastline is not an easy one, needs a specific authorization jointly by the State Forestry Service and Body Park.

Website: www.islepark.it
E-mail: parco@islepark.it

Information
Phone 0565 919411 - Fax 0565 919428