ART AND CULTURE

The first human settlements on the Island of Elba date back some 4000 years, but it was thanks to the arrival of the Etruscans and the Romans that this land became an important crossroads of people, histories and cultures.  

Over the centuries, these peoples brought hitherto absent plants to the island, giving rise to different crops: from chestnut trees, useful for the production of naval material, to vines, from which they obtained the precious wine, now famous throughout the world.  

In medieval and Renaissance times, Elba was put to the sword by Moorish pirates and forts and watchtowers were built, some of which can still be visited today.  

A few centuries later, Napoleon made the Island of Elba his haven of peace from wars and military campaigns; he enriched and modernised it by building schools, roads, administrative buildings and refurbishing many places of striking beauty, such as Villa dei Mulini and Villa San Martino.  

Thanks to the wealth of sites for iron ore mining and its strategic location, Elba was used as a construction site and weapons warehouse during the two World Wars.  

Today, the largest of the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago is considered one of the most beautiful tourist resorts in Italy and the world, boasting a territorial richness and a truly unique historical-naturalistic tradition.