Elba - Best Wine and Beaches in Tuscany
Lying between the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas, the island of Elba is also the largest in the Tuscan archipelago. It has a long history involving famous names such as that of Napoleon, but today it’s more commonly known to tourists for its wines and yacht charter Italy sailing opportunities.
Sea & Coast
The largest island in the Tuscan archipelago is called Elba and it’s a great place to sail to, due to its rustic Italian appeal and its position between the Tyrrhenian and the Ligurian Seas. Also, it happens to be the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia and an integral part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago, but that’s just one of the reasons Yacht Charter crews come here.
50 km east of Corsica and under 10km from the Tuscan coast, the island of Elba is the only part of land remaining of an ancient causeway that used to link Corsica to the Italian peninsula. The north shore faces the Ligurian Sea, the east shore the Piombino channel, while the southern one the Tyrrhenian Sea. The geography of the island can be best observed by Yacht Charter explorers from its highest point, Mount Capanne (1018m), in the west. The center is dominated by a flat region while the south has many hills.
Once you’ve set foot ashore together with your Yacht Charter party, you’ll be greeted by a form of spontaneous vegetation the locals call “macchia” which is common to this part of the Mediterranean. It’s made up of shrubs and aromatic plants mostly that form an evergreen blanket over the island. Some of the endemic animal species that you can find here include the mouflon and the wild boar.
This vegetation could only thrive in a Mediterranean climate, which covers most of Elba, except for the Mount Capanne region where the temperatures during the cold season are lower. The rest of the year, air and water temperatures are pleasant with very few rainy days. The average temperature in winter is 14 degrees, 14 in spring and 23 in summer.
Culture & History
What drew the first inhabitants to this island were the iron deposits. The first were the Ligures Ilvati, followed shortly by the Etruscans and the Romans who further developed ore mining in the region. When the Roman power faded, the island came under constant siege by Saracens and barbarians. From the 11th century on it changed hands between the various counts and lords that succeeded in Italy.
One of the most notable “guests” to the island of Elba was Emperor Napoleon, a name that still draws Yacht Charter sailors to these shores even today. It became a part of the Unified Kingdom of Italy in 1860. Today, the island is rather famed for its wines and tourist facilities rather than its history. The most important city is Portoferraio.
Seamanship & Experience
The odd shape of the island and the nature of its shores affords the Yacht Charter skipper lots of places for anchorage as there are good natural bays around its entire coast, close in between, and those close to cities come with marinas as well.
Good weather throughout the year means that there are few days not suited for sailing, even during winter and that’s why the local ferry service is almost never closed. However, Yacht Charter boatmen venturing these waters, should be mindful of the local winds. The hot Scirocco comes in from the southeast, the cool Mistral from the northwest and the more dangerous Libeccio from the southwest and Westerly from the West. These have more power to raise big waves but they seldom blow along the coast.