Tuscany · Livorno
Capoliveri
A medieval hill town on the eastern lobe of Elba, with 35 kilometers of coast and the iron mines of Monte Calamita below.
Known for
IRON MINES
Three-thousand-year mining history on Monte Calamita, magnetite and hematite worked from Etruscan times to 1980.
35 KM OF COAST
More coastline than any other comune on Elba, with sand and pebble beaches on all three sides of the southern lobe.
TUSCAN ARCHIPELAGO PARK
Inside the Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscano, the largest marine protected area in the European Mediterranean.
When to visit
Best · May–Sep
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Capoliveri sits on a terrace of Monte Calamita, the southern lobe of Elba, with thirty-five kilometers of coastline below, more than any other comune on the island. The name comes from Caput Liberum, the Roman head of the free territory; the medieval town that grew up here is built into the slope as a maze of narrow alleys called chiassi. The Monte Calamita iron mines have been worked since Etruscan times: magnetite, hematite and limonite from skarns that gave the mountain its name.
Modern extraction ran from around 1870 to 1980; the abandoned galleries and open pits at Calamita, Ginevro and Sassi Neri now form an industrial-heritage circuit inside the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. The southern beaches, Innamorata, Morcone, Pareti and Zuccale, are reached by a network of dirt roads off the ridge. The fishermen still go out at four in the morning from the cove at Naregno.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Capoliveri’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
By subscribing you agree to Substack’s Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and our Information collection notice.
What to see
Centro storico
Medieval village built into the slope of Monte Calamita, with narrow stepped alleys called chiassi giving onto small piazzas.
Miniere del Calamita
Iron-ore complex on the eastern flank of Monte Calamita, worked from Etruscan times to 1980, now a heritage trail with guided tours.
Spiaggia dell'Innamorata
Pebble beach on the southern coast, named for a sixteenth-century pair of lovers killed in a pirate raid, commemorated each July.
Spiaggia di Morcone
Sandy crescent on the southeast coast, sheltered, the largest of the Capoliveri beaches.
Punta Calamita
Southern headland of Elba, the panoramic finish of Monte Calamita with views to Pianosa and Montecristo.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Capoliveri fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
Living here
- Population 3,899
- Very remotei
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Florence / Pisa, 2 h 26 min drive
- Regional capital Firenze, 3 h 11 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 167 m
- Population: 3,899
- Surface area: 39.56 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Capoliveri
Campiglia Marittima
Province: Livorno
A walled hilltop borgo above the Val di Cornia, where the Rocca tower watches a mining landscape worked from the Etruscans to 1976.
Piombino
Province: Livorno
A promontory port facing Elba across the channel, founded by refugees from Etruscan Populonia and now the Tuscan archipelago's ferry capital.
Suvereto
Province: Livorno
A stone borgo at 127 meters above the Val di Cornia, named for the cork oaks of its forests and ruled from the Rocca Aldobrandesca since 973.
Castagneto Carducci
Province: Livorno
A hilltop borgo at 194 meters above the Costa degli Etruschi, renamed for the poet Carducci in 1907 and the home of Bolgheri and Sassicaia.
Montescudaio
Province: Pisa
A fortified hill borgo at 242 meters above the Val di Cecina, named for a mountain of shields, with DOC wine since 1977 and bread, oil and grape all stamped in its identity.
🌲 Parco Nazionale
More Parco Nazionale towns in Tuscany
Capraia Isola
Province: Livorno
A volcanic island of 370 residents and one village, the third largest of the Tuscan Archipelago, a penal colony from 1873 to 1986 and a national park since.
Fivizzano
Province: Massa-Carrara
Don't come for Fivizzano-the-town — come for the frazioni: Equi Terme with its thermal grotto-and-cave complex, Verrucola's intact Malaspina fortress, Gassano's mountain panorama, and a 264 km² Lunigiana commune covering 92 hamlets inside the Parco Nazionale dell'Appennino Tosco-Emiliano.
Grosseto
Province: Grosseto
The Maremma capital on the Ombrone river, ringed by hexagonal Medici walls of 1564 that now serve as the city's public park.
Isola del Giglio
Province: Grosseto
A granite island in the Tyrrhenian Archipelago, walled village on the ridge, port below, where the Costa Concordia ran aground in January 2012.
Licciana Nardi
Province: Massa-Carrara
A Lunigiana Malaspina village at 215 meters in the Apennine Tosco-Emiliano park, named in 1933 for the Risorgimento patriot Anacarsi Nardi.