Elba Island
The island of Elba is the largest of the seven islands of the Tuscan archipelago. It has an area of about 220 square kilometers and is divided into eight municipalities. The profile of the coast draws deep bays and a continuous succession of depressions with rocky and sandy beaches. Thanks to the beautiful scenery, the mild climate and the great historical background with the presence of Napoleon too, Elba offers many hiking trails for outdoor sports lovers, such as trekking and mountain biking.
On this small piece of soil, we can observe an extraordinary geological variety into iron mines, with its gems and stones, how pyrite, native copper, siderite, hematite, chrysocolla and many others can be found mainly in the eastern side of the island: Cavo, Rio Marina, the Terranera lake and Punta Calamita.
On the western side are located the mountain “Monte Capanne” and San Piero, where you can find tourmaline, beryl, albite, orthoclase and granodiorite.
It was not by chance that the island of Elba was known for its treasures exploited by the ancient peoples, from the Paleolithic to the Greek, Etruscan, and finally the Romans, as evidenced by numerous artefacts and preserved in archaeological museums.
The Elba flora is characterized by the prevalence of the Mediterranean climate, with forests of oaks, cork oaks, pine trees and various species of shrubs such as cysts, broom, myrtle, rosemary and chestnut trees. There is also a rich variety of wild orchids of different colors and shapes.
Elba offers a wide selection of animals: in the countryside, in addition to the more frequent insects and invertebrate animals, many species of butterflies – including the rare and native Zerynthia Cassandra. For the category of reptiles and amphibians we can mention geckos, vipers, snakes, lizards and common toads. For the bird species, we find cormorants, seagulls, swallows, blackbirds, red partridge, various species of sparrows, hoopoes, hawks, owls. In the mammals, there are hedgehogs, several specimens of bats, hares, dormouses, martens, mouflons and wild boars. The sea fauna, offers many varieties of organisms: the Posidonia algae, sponges, anemones, sea cucumbers, starfish, sea urchins, corals, gorgonians, tuna, swordfish, mussels, crustaceans and cephalopods, dolphins and Caretta Caretta turtles.