Northern Elba Coast

Today we travelled along the northern coast of Elba from east to west. We visited the mountain village of Marciana Alt and seaside town of Marciana Marina.

Elba has been mining iron since 1300bc when the argonauts noted the smoke from the workings during their visit. Today there is very little evidence of any mining apart from some rusted infrastructure in a couple of locations. The ground around the site was sparkling in the sun with minerals lying along the road. Today tourism is well and truely the main industry on this beautiful island.

Over time the island has been government by everyone from the Etruscans to the French. Today there are about 30,000 residents living on Italy’s third largest island (after Sicily and Sardinia). Its most famous resident was Napoleon (after Dino Capocchi of course). But more about Napoleon and Dino tomorrowRead more