Montecristo is the fourth largest island in the Tuscan Archipelago, with an area of 10.4 sq. km. The island is currently uninhabited and the subject of an integral reserve.
The history of Montecristo has its roots in the Neolithic age, between the sixth and fifth millennia B.C., a time to which fragments of pottery and a flint artifact found near Cala Maestra seem datable. There are few elements that help to define the history of Montecristo in Etruscan and Roman times. We are aware of onerous shipwrecks near its waters (3rd seol B.C.) and we have some written evidence with respect to artifacts found in the 1800s at Cala Maestra such as a fragment of glass glass, iron slag and a fragment of marble flooring that could be pertinent to a maritime villa on the model of those found on other islands in the Tuscan Archipelago. More information comes from the fifth century AD, when a monastery and chapel were built in the cave where St. Mamiliano lived while fleeing from the Vandals and which legend has it was also home to his mysterious treasure. Written sources describe how the monastery was erected on the remains of a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter, without archaeology bringing concrete evidence to corroborate this information.
The island was inhabited until 1553, although subject to numerous pirate raids. During the last of these by Dragut, the monastery of Montecristo was permanently abandoned, and the island became a den of pirates for many years. Subsequent attempts at repopulation, which lasted until well into the 1800s, were never really successful.
