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Island of Elba in Tuscany - Trekking

The hiking excursions among sea and sky here suggested will not just allow you to discover more closely this land but are also a personal enriching experience in one of the most enchanting landscapes of the Mediterranean. According to legend, the Tuscan Archipelago originated from a jewel that slipped off Venus’s neck, the goddess of beauty and love, and fell into the Tyrrhenian Sea. The natural environment and history of the third largest Italian island have often entwined to create an extraordinary mixture of nature and culture, all on such a small piece of land.

Starting from sea level, you can reach the mountains with a walk of just a few kilometers. You can visit the remains of an Etruscan fortress on high grounds and then dive into the sea from a small beach just one-hundred meters away; and the rock with trees near the shore, more than 2000 years ago was the wharf for the Roman burdened ships. No other island in the Mediterranean Sea has a granite mountain more than 1000 meters high, and one of the most interesting mineral areas of the world within just a 2-hour walk. If you are visiting the Island of Elba for the first time you will be surprised by the continuous changes of landscape, a turn of the road and in front of you opens an unexpected scenery. The impression is that its complex geological nature has conditioned everything else, and in fact, this is probably the case.

It is also true that it is not easy to rediscover the authentic aspect of a tourist island and certainly, one of the best ways is to explore it on foot. Hiking means becoming part of the environment you are visiting. On the Island of Elba, a walking tour of just a few kilometers, in no hurry, simply to listen and have a look around, can be a source of many discoveries. This short article is intended to provide a few starting points for walking round one of the most interesting islands of the Mediterranean. It is also an invitation to visit the Island of Elba during the quieter seasons, that is autumn, winter and spring, to discover a microcosm built on a fragile balance, of historical, cultural and natural values that are today forgotten.

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