Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rome
€21.65 to €33, three to four hours, 12 daily
Getting Around
ATL Terminus
(
www.atl.livorno.it
;
Largo Duomo 2)
Bus 1 runs from the central train station to
Porto Mediceo (€1.20, on board €1.70), via Piazza Grande. To reach Stazione Marittima,
take bus 1 to Piazza Grande then bus 5 from Via Cogorano, just off Piazza Grande.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Isola d'Elba
Napoleon would think twice about fleeing Isola d'Elba (the island of Elba) were he exiled
here today. Substantially more congested now than when he arrived in 1814 (he engin-
eered an escape in less than a year), the island is nonetheless an ever-glorious setting of
rocky-beach-laced coves, vineyards, blue waters, thoroughly fabulous hairpin-bend mo-
toring and mind-bending views crowned by the peak of Monte Capanne. Predictably, giv-
en the rugged terrain, hiking and biking are big.
Elba is the largest and most heavily populated island in the
Parco Nazionale Arcipelago To-
scano
, Europe's largest marine protected area. More than a million visitors a year take the
one-hour ferry cruise here, and in the island's main town and port Portoferraio in August
it feels decidedly like everyone's turned up the same weekend. Avoid coming then!
But in springtime and early summer, or autumn for grape and olive harvests, you'll find
plenty of tranquil nooks on this stunningly picturesque, 28km-long, 19km-wide island.
