Charlie is a large, somewhat aged sea turtle of the species caretta caretta, rescued a few years ago from a fishing net. Nearly blind, she could not have continued to survive in the open sea and is therefore a permanent guest of the Elba Aquarium.

Perfectly at ease among large groupers, moray eels and other pelagic fish, she knows the spaces of the large tank she inhabits inside inside inside out, which allows her to spend her old age in peace, far from danger.

Like Charlie, more than 150 Mediterranean marine species populate the 80 tanks in the Aquarium, each enjoying diverse and specially reproduced habitats. You may encounter stingrays, owlfish, the large spider crabs (which we call sea daisies here), colonies of ascidians and baffles, spirographs, triggerfish, sharks, and octopuses.

Also living here was the famous Octopus Paul, the octapod who became famous for his soothsaying skills and starred in the 2010 World Cup. And today, some of its descendants continue periodically to "churn out" hundreds of eggs. Once hatched, the tiny mollusks are all reintroduced into the sea, heading for the blue depths.

Attention to the environment is in fact one of the prerogatives of the Elba Aquarium: from education, through meetings with Elba schools and others, to conservation, through numerous collaborations with a variety of associations and the Port Authority itself.

A visit to this attraction is definitely a fun and educational activity for the whole family. An opportunity not to be missed to learn about the inhabitants of our seas.

A curiosity? The 1,000-square-meter Aquarium occupies the building that once housed a discotheque. And the tanks, all handcrafted and filled with more than 250 thousand liters of seawater, include the old columns and supporting structures. Look for the fire escape for example, between the Bream and Sponges, saturated with encrustations as if it were that of a shipwreck