No trip to Elba would be complete without a search of time past: a visit to places that are associated with the island’s most famous ever resident.
A Bonaparte Pilgrimage Walk might feature stations all across the island: the central highlands with Napoleon’s summer residence in San Martino, for example, the west with the residence of Count Drouot, Napoleon’s right hand man, and there is a rock on the Northern coast, called Napoleon‘s Chair, from where the former Emperor is said to have looked longingly over to the French island of Corsica (which was also, of course, his birthplace).
But for the headline attractions of such a pilgrimage, you must stop over in the ferry harbour of Portoferraio.
The visit to the Villa dei Mulini, Napoleon’s main residence for his ten-month long exile on Elba, is an interesting experience.
Put yourself in the former Emperor’s shoes: you have been hailed as the greatest military commander since Alexander the Great, you had power over 100 million people all over Europe and were ruling over the biggest European Empire since – at least – Charlemagne.
And now: welcome to your new home.
Of course, there is nothing wrong about this house: it would have made a nice little home for a country gent, a minor landowner or a retired civil servant. At the time, it was probably the grandest residence on Elba.
Nevertheless, this must have been a cruel reality check for Napoleon. I picture the scene of his arrival featuring a ten-men-strong amateur brass band playing nervously out of tune and a village mayor, dizzy with celebrititis, who is eager to shake the generalissimo’s hands.
At the time, Portoferraio counted about one third of its current population of 12,000 inhabitants. There are still streets around, just a few steps away from the busy harbour area, which can make you believe that little has changed here in the past 200 years.
Napoleon, meanwhile, appears not to have felt too sorry for himself, pouting over the ignominy of it all. On his arrival, he said: from now on, I will live like a justice of the peace. Was that disingenuous? This is hard to tell.
In his ten months on Elba, he extended the island’s road network, had the marshes drained, reformed the local school system and did so much good that the grateful islanders have been celebrating a daily mass for his soul every day for the past 200 years in the Church of Misericordia.
One may argue that Napoleon, had he just been biding his time, would not have spent so much energy on the island’s welfare, but it is also true that he must have started to plot his return very soon after his exile began.
Modern visitors, after they have left the ferry from the Italian mainland in Portoferraio, will – in search of a good time – most likely make their way to the resorts in the island’s south or west.
Our advice is to concentrate on trails for easy hiking in Elba. No matter where your holiday base may be, there are always some trails that start close to your front door.
The local bus network may be better than its reputation, but travelling on Elba gets complicated once you need more than one bus to arrive at your destination. Spare yourself unnecessary stress and stay in your neighbourhood.
No matter where you choose for easy hiking in Elba, you are bound to see something beautiful.
Our own base was at Sant’Andrea in the island’s untamed west where we found many things to explore that were not even mentioned in any tourist guide.
The rocks on the far side of the marina (which is busy with shops and restaurants), for example, made a great place for an impromptu picnic.
I bet that you can find something like that in every corner of the island.
You should, however, put in a bit of work in advance. If you visit a major city, some place like Venice or Florence, you can walk around aimlessly around the town centre while still seeing many interesting things and having a good time. In hiking, however, it is always a great help to know in advance where you are going.
The guidebook “Walking in Tuscany“ by Gillian Price provided us with a well-rounded picture of what to expect. It features interesting suggestions of where to go on Elba and elsewhere in the region – highly useful for visitors for whom Elba will be only one stop among many in the region.
The book describes more than 40 walks (mainly between 5 and 10 km long) including many around the great sites of the area (Florence, Siena, Pisa), so it will be a valuable companion for anybody who wants to visit Tuscany, the most popular and most attractive region in all of Italy.
You should also make sure that you pick the right hotel. In places like (again) Florence or Venice, you will only spend a few waking minutes of every day in your hotel.
A holiday with easy hiking in Elba, however, is a different matter. You will need time, after your return from the trail, to recover and relax, and will be grateful if there is a place to do so other than your hotel bed.
A communal garden, for example, …
… or an “en suite” balcony garden.
Personally, I like to start my hiking day with a good breakfast: müesli, nuts, fresh fruit, a croissant. In large cities, there will be the right kind of cafe for that somewhere in your neighbourhood, or, if everything else fails, the railway station buffet.
Here, there is no such thing. For most of our holidays, we take the cheapest accommodation that we can find, and I would always recommend anybody to do likewise.
But not for all holidays: it is important to know when to make exceptions. Horses for courses, as they say. And for this particular course, the Boutique Hotel Ilio – with its gardens, “en suite” balcony garden and breakfast terrace – turned out to be the perfect choice. After all, we are also in search of a good time when easy hiking in Elba.
Elba is only one island – the biggest – of many that make up the Tuscany Archipelago. During your hikes or on your ferry crossing, you can see Elba’s neighbours loom tantalizingly over the horizon.
The biggest of these islands have a surface area of 10 to 20 square kilometres, but most of them are small, sometimes very small.
They are also hard to get to or totally inaccessible (only 4 islands have a “proper” population other than military personnel and national park wardens).
The annual Tuscany Walking Festival (April/May and September/October) is designed – one assumes – to sharpen the public profile of the Tuscan coast, but it is unfortunately a fairly low-key affair. We did not see a single poster for the event during our stay (in late September), and although they have a glossy programme, it is only available in Italian.
The festival’s concept is great – guided group tours through otherwise inaccessible nature reserves – but its implementation leaves room for improvement. There is so much to discover on the Tuscan Archipelago.
One only wishes that they would make it easier.
