Tuscan Archipelago Park
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
The Tuscan Archipelago National Park can be reached by sea from several points along the Tuscan coast, with different routes for each of the seven islands. The island of Elba - the largest, most densely inhabited and main gateway to the archipelago - is connected by ferry all year round from the port of Piombino, only 10 km away; the crossing to Portoferraio takes about 60 minutes, while connections to Rio Marina and Cavo are about 45 and 35 minutes respectively. Piombino can be reached from the north by taking the state road Aurelia or the motorway to Livorno and continuing on the state road . The island of Elba also has an airport - La Pila, near Marina di Campo - with seasonal flights. The island of Capraia can be reached all year round by the Toremar company, departing from the port of Livorno, in about 2 hours and 45 minutes by boat; it is not necessary to take a car as the only carriageway on the island is about 800m long. The islands of Giglio and Giannutri are connected from Porto Santo Stefano, in the municipality of Monte Argentario in the province of Grosseto, which can be reached from the state road Aurelia. The island of Pianosa is only accessible by guided excursions booked through the Park Guides, with departures from Marina di Campo and Porto Azzurro (Elba); the number of daily visitors is limited. The island of Gorgona - home to a penal institution - can only be visited with guided tours organised by the Prison Administration in agreement with the park, departing from Livorno. The island of Montecristo, an integral nature reserve, can only be visited by excursions organised by the park authority with departures from Piombino, Elba, Porto Santo Stefano and Giglio, along the three authorised trails. The Park Authority office is located in Portoferraio, in the village of Enfola. In high season, ferries to Elba are very busy: advance booking is recommended, especially for vehicles.
.Introduction
The Tuscan Archipelago National Park extends in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Tuscany in the provinces of Livorno and Grosseto. Established by Presidential Decree of 22 July 1996 - published in the Official Gazette on 11 December 1996 - it is the largest marine park in Europe, with a surface area of approximately 168.56 kmĀ² on land and 567.66 kmĀ² at sea. It includes the seven largest islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea - Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Pianosa, Giannutri and Gorgona - distributed along around 150 km of sea arc, from the waters off Livorno to the Argentario promontory. Each island has a distinct geological, natural and historical identity: from granite and mining Elba, the only island in the archipelago with elevations above 1,000 m, to the inaccessible and wooded Montecristo, from the volcanic Capraia to the island-penitentiary of Gorgona. The entire park is part of the Pelagos International Sanctuary of Marine Mammals, an area of shared protection between Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco.
Description
The islands of the Tuscan Archipelago are the result of a complex geological history that began in the Triassic, some 230 million years ago. Their different lithological origins reflect profoundly different evolutionary histories: the metamorphic rocks of the Elban Calamita peninsula are a fragment of African crust dating from around 570 million years ago; the granite bodies of Monte Capanne on Elba, the island of Montecristo and the island of Giglio derive from magmatic magma;island of Giglio derive from magmas that have risen during extensional phenomena over the last 10 million years and crystallised in depth; Capraia is entirely volcanic, formed by eruptions between 9 and 4.5 million years ago; Giannutri and Pianosa are calcareous. The islands are therefore made up of intrusive (granites), effusive (basalts and rhyolites), sedimentary (limestones, sandstones) and metamorphic (phyllites, gneisses, marbles) magmatic rocks, with an exceptional petrographic variety for such a limited area. During the Wurmian glaciation, about 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, with the sea level lowered by about 100m, Elba was connected to the continent, and only the islands of Capraia, Giglio, Giannutri, Gorgona and Montecristo remained separate. This alternation of connection and isolation favoured speciation and the formation of numerous endemisms.
The plant landscape of the islands is dominated by tall Mediterranean scrub, with strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo), mastic trees (Pistacia lentiscus), Phoenician juniper (Juniperus phoenicea), myrtle (Myrtus communis), heather, rosemary, lavender, broom and cysts. The large holm-oak (Quercus ilex) forests that once covered most of the islands are now reduced to a few coppice woods on Elba, Giglio and Gorgona, due to intensive use for coal and timber in historical mining activities. On the northern slope of Monte Capanne, on the island of Elba, a mixed wood of hornbeam, black alder and chestnut with relict specimens of yew survives. The altitudinal and morphological complexity of Elba is also home to extensive chestnut woods on the hills and a network of botanical endemisms: the Elban violet (Viola corsica subsp. ilvensis), the Monte Capanne cornflower, and the Capraia limonium and mint (Mentha requienii ssp. bistaminata) are among the park's exclusive species. The entire archipelago is home to endemic species closely linked to the island environment and the Sardinian-Corsican area, such as the Limonium multiforme var. sommieriana, the Orchis provincialis var. capraria and the Artemisia densiflora.
The birdlife constitutes the faunal component of greatest conservation importance. The Corsican seagull (Ichthyaetus audouinii), the symbol of the park and a vulnerable species on a European scale, nests on the archipelago with around 200 pairs distributed between Capraia, Giglio and Pianosa; the colony is one of the most significant in the central-western Mediterranean. The herring gull (Larus michahellis) has around 600 nesting pairs. The tufted plover (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) is present with about 30 pairs; the greater shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) and the lesser shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) find refuge on inaccessible cliffs. The peregrine falcon (Peregrine Falcon) and the imperial raven (Corvus corax) are present with stable populations. The archipelago is one of the most important stopping points in the Mediterranean for migratory birds. Among land mammals, the marten (Martes martes) stands out on the island of Elba, where it reaches unusual densities for an island. The seabed is home to prairies of Posidonia oceanica, sea fans, anemones, red corals (Corallium rubrum) and starfish; the marine area around Gorgona, Capraia, Montecristo and Giannutri is among the richest and least disturbed in the entire Tyrrhenian Sea.
Human presence in the archipelago dates back to the Palaeolithic: the iron ore deposits of eastern Elba were already exploited by the Etruscans and later by the Romans, who colonised the islands extensively. The remains of the Roman villa of the Domizi Enobarbi on Giannutri and the Roman villa on Gorgona testify to the intensity of settlements in the imperial age. Medieval presences - the Rocca Aldobrandesca in Giglio Castello, the Genoese watchtower in Capraia, the Pisan forts - and those of the modern age are stratified along the islands. The best-known episode in the modern history of the archipelago is Napoleon Bonaparte's stay on the island of Elba from May 1814 to February 1815, during his first exile; the Villa dei Mulini in Portoferraio and the Villa San Martino preserve vestiges of this period. Pianosa and Capraia share a past as penal colonies - Capraia from 1873 to 1986, Pianosa until 1998 - which indirectly contributed to the preservation of their nature by limiting building development. Gorgona is still home to an agricultural penal institution, whose inmates on a semi-freedom regime cultivate gardens and vineyards on the island's terraces. The park was preceded by the Montecristo Integral Nature Reserve, established in 1971, the archipelago's first protected area, made famous by Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Montecristo in 1844. The park authority was established by the Presidential Decree of 22 July 1996 in accordance with Law No. 305 of 28 August 1989.
The park's trail network covers all the accessible islands: Monte Capanne on Elba (1.Monte Capanne on Elba (1. 019m), which can also be reached by cable car, is the most popular route and offers views over the entire archipelago as far as Corsica; on the island of Giglio, the path between Giglio Castello and Punta Capel Rosso follows the central ridge; on Capraia, the circumnavigation of the island takes 4-5 hours along sheer cliffs. The waters of the park, part of the Pelagos Sanctuary, constitute one of the most frequented diving areas in the Tyrrhenian Sea, with seabeds of particularly high biological interest around Giannutri, Capraia and Montecristo.
Information
General data
Typology: National Park (geomarine)
Year of creation: 1996 (Presidential Decree 22 July 1996; Official Gazette no. 290 of 11 December 1996); first integral nature reserve: Montecristo, 1971
Managing body: Tuscan Archipelago National Park Authority
Reference body: Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security
Land area: 168.56 kmĀ²
Marine area: 567.66 kmĀ²
Total area: approx. 736.22 kmĀ²
Minimum elevation: 0m (sea level)
Maximum elevation: 1,019m
Maximum elevation: 1.019m - Monte Capanne (island of Elba, Marciana, LI)
Region(s): Tuscany
Province(s): Grosseto - Livorno
Municipalities involved: Campo nell'Elba - Capoliveri - Capraia Isola - Isola del Giglio - Livorno - Marciana - Marciana Marina - Porto Azzurro - Portoferraio - Rio
Official website: https://www.islepark.it