What is Capoliveri known for?

Three-thousand-year mining history on Monte Calamita, magnetite and hematite worked from Etruscan times to 1980. More coastline than any other comune on Elba, with sand and pebble beaches on all three sides of the southern lobe. Inside the Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscano, the largest marine protected area in the European Mediterranean.

Capoliveri is a comune in the province of Livorno, Tuscany region of Italy, about 146 kilometers from Livorno.

Tuscany · Livorno

Capoliveri

A medieval hill townon the eastern lobe of Elba, with 35 kilometers of coast and the iron mines of Monte Calamita below.

146 km / 91 mi

Nearest hub (Livorno)

3,899

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Parco Nazionale

Why come

Capoliveri sitson 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.

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Gallery

4 photos · scroll →

Known for

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.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through September is the season Capoliveri runs on. The water warms enough to swim from mid-May, the ferries from Piombino run every hour, the beaches at Morcone and Innamorata fill from late June. July and August are crowded everywhere on the island and parking at the southern beaches becomes a small art. October stays warm and largely empty; the mining tours run into November on weekends. November through April is the quiet half of the year. Many restaurants and hotels close from late October until Easter, the ferries thin to a few crossings a day, and the town belongs to the 3,899 residents and the dogs. The Festa dell'Uva in early October fills the piazza for one weekend.