Elban recipes are not particularly elaborate. They are simple, ancient recipes, reworked according to the products that the territory could offer. That is why you will often seem to recognize a faint smell of mint in our dishes: it is nepitella, which grows wild here, and is used to flavor dishes. Myrtle and juniper berries also enrich various meat and fish dishes, giving them a completely unexpected taste. So do capers, which even grow in the cracks of Portoferraio’s Fortezze Medicee.
Vine cultivation on the island of Elba has ancient origins: the ancient Etruscans were already engaged in it, and several Roman-era wrecks on the seabed testify to the transport of wine to the mainland. Vineyards were later expanded by the Medici and Lorraine families. Among the most illustrious admirers of Elban wine were Pliny the Elder, Ferdinand I de’ Medici, and Napoleon Napoleon, who on returning to France used to say, “the inhabitants of the island of Elba are strong and healthy because the wine of the island gives strength and health.” In recent years there has been a real resurgence in production, which is highly appreciated and recognized nationwide.
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Strategic location for the large amount of hematite and limonite immediately identified by the emperor as soon as he landed on the island as a strategic-military axis.
The beach is named after the islet a few meters from the shore, itself named after Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister who, according to a legend (probably created by a tourism entrepreneur in the 1960s) loved to sunbathe on these rocks.
Designated as a summer residence, Napoleon purchased the property from the Manganaro family in 1814, with the intention of transforming it into a comfortable and refined abode that would have nothing to envy from Parisian residences.
Built in 1724 by Grand Duke Gaston de’ Medici, it was Napoleon’s city residence during his first stay on Elba Island.
It was built as a sign of gratitude in 1606 by José Pons y León of the Dukes of Arcos, Spanish governor of Naples and first governor of the square of Longone (part of the state of principals). In September 1814 Napoleon, accompanied by Pons and Bertrand wanted to visit the sanctuary.
While the Elban economy today is based on tourism, the fact remains that the people of San Piero and the west coast (Pomonte) have also lived and continue to live off their granite and marble
Visit the harbor where Maria Walewska landed and the armed watchtower visited by Napoleon himself in 1814
