Elba: sights and tips

When most people think of the word Elba, they think of two things: Napoleon and beach. Indeed, the island off the Tuscan coast has become world famous as the place of exile of the defeated French emperor. It is also a popular destination in summer, especially for German and Italian bathers. But a short study trip organized by the local tourist office for foreign journalists recently made it clear to me that the island has much more to offer, especially outside the high season.

This is a must see and do on Elba.

The boat to Elba

You reach Elba from the port of Piombino, a somewhat dilapidated former center of a steel production, as witnessed today by the rusting abandoned blast furnaces in the port area.

There is a departure every 20 minutes. In the high season this amounts to up to 100 departures per day. For the crossing you pay between € 10 and € 20 per person. A few bucks are added for a car. The rates depend on the time and season.

More information can be found at Moby Lines.

The ferry takes you across the Elba Channel in an hour to the town of Portaferraio (literally Yserhaven), where about half of the 30.000 elbania live.

Napoleon in Portoferraio

The main attraction in Portaferraio, next to a Florentine fortress, is the Casa dei Mulini, a miniature palace that was home to Napoleon in 1814 and which is now a museum. Napoleon only spent ten months on Elba before fleeing back to France for a final failed coup, but left a lasting impression on the island.

The steep, wide staircase that leads from the harbor to the museum is of course called Scalinata Napoleone. In the streets around the museum you can buy all kinds of Napoleon trinkets and even the local beer and mineral water bear his name.

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The museum itself is frankly rather poor. The original Imperial furniture has been lost and has therefore been replaced by Empire style furniture, paintings and statues gathered here and there, including an extremely ugly and completely dissimilar bust of the Emperor.

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But hey, the entrance costs only 5 euros and from the garden you have a magnificent view of the bay of Portoferraio, the fortress and the antique lighthouse.

The Magnet Mountain

With an area of ​​224 square kilometers, Elba – na Sicily en Sardinia – the third largest Italian island. It has no less than 147 kilometers of coastline and almost 100, more or less easily accessible, beaches.

In earlier years they were pretty much the only reason tourists came to the island and Elba was also a favorite destination for the Italian and international jet set. But in recent years there has been a bit of a mess, so that the Pro Loco van Elba is now also responding to the active holiday trend.

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For this, new attractions have been found in an age-old tradition of the island: mining. The west coast has been an important source of iron ore since the time of the Etruscans, roughly 4 centuries BC. (Elba is the Etruscan word for iron.)

You can also see this in the colors of the rocks: mainly rust brown, but also blue from azurite, green from malachite and gray-black from magnetite, an iron oxide with magnetic effect.

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One of the main European sites is a hill on the southeastern tip of Elba, which is also called Monte Calamita, the Magnet Mountain. Iron was mined here well into the last century, with a peak production in the years 1942-43, for the war machine of the then German ally.

After the war, new tunnels were dug, but in 1981 the ore mining had come to an end due to the fall in prices on the world market. The abandoned mines, together with the untouched nature reserve of the Magnetberg, are now a beautiful widespread museum (distributed museum).

Active holiday on Elba

Departing from the village of Capoliveri, you can walk around the mountain in just under 5 hours through a wild landscape of colorful rocks, shrubbery and fresh green low pines.

We did it by mountain bike and passed the beautiful Spiaggia dell'Innamorata, the Beach of the Lady in Love, also known in local dialect as the Cala de lo Fero, the cove of the iron, which was loaded here.

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A little further on you can take an underground tour through the mine galleries, which have recently been arranged for guided tours, with original material and impressive dynamite-made chasms.

Incidentally, the entire island is ideal for trekking, especially in the less hot months. The most famous routes are the Grande Traversata Elbana, an approximately 22-hour crossing of the entire island, and the climb to the top of the 1.019 meter high Monte Capanna, which takes about 5 hours.

After all, Elba is becoming increasingly popular for canoeists and kayakers, who can circumnavigate the entire island in 5 days if desired.

Elba .'s cuisine

The local cuisine is mainly based on fish, but wild boars and rabbits are also caught in the hills. I especially remember a lunch of raw swordfish, tuna, amberjack, squid and shrimp, accompanied by Ansonica, a fresh white wine from a local grape variety.

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And a dinner of braised wild boar with an equally local Elba Rosso Riserva. The typical dessert of Elba is the schiaccia ubriaca (drunk cake), prepared with olive oil, currants, pine nuts and the delicious dessert wine aleatico, also prepared on site. (Except in the northeast of the island, where white Muscat wine is used, so even in a relatively small area like Elba's, you already have several local recipes.)

The Grape Festival

Who starts oktober If you come to Elba, you should definitely do it Grape Festival, the Grape Festival of Capoliveri, do not miss. This rustic hilltop village has only 4.000 inhabitants, but they are spread over four neighborhoods that outdo each other during this harvest festival with historical costumes and a cooking competition.

This year it was won by the Torre district, with an original and classic miele fritto, a deep-fried Etruscan pancake made from spelled flour and honey: as a member of the jury I know that.

On Sundays, the whole village becomes one big theater, with the most varied tableaux vivants and the strangest encounters:

• Graceful Roman grape presses.
• Medieval mendicants.
• An anarchist from 1900 who engages in a heated political debate.
• A vintner from the 60s offering a glass of freshly distilled grappa (60%)!
• Pasta eating gendarmes.
• Ancient Romans reclining at the banquet.
• Traveling Temple Virgins and horny satyrs.
• Drivers who with their Lancia Delta to repeat the 1994 Tour of Elba.

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Reason enough to come and see again next year!

Want to see more photos of the beautiful Elba? View here how beautiful Elba is.

Would you like to discover the most beautiful places on Elba yourself?

Do you already feel like traveling to this amazing island and experiencing all those beautiful places, hiking routes, beaches and charming villages for yourself? You will not regret a holiday on Elba!

Here you will find the best and cheapest accommodations on Elba.

Have you been to Elba before? What are the most beautiful places on Elba in your opinion? Leave your comment below.

Also watch: the most beautiful places in Italy.

For more information about Elba: www.visitelba.info