Experience Tuscany

Poto Azzurro is one of the most picturesque harbors of the Elba island in Tuscany Italy. It is dominated by a magnificent seventeenth-century Spanish fort, part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. This is enough to make Porto Azzurro one of the most interesting and rewarding destinations of Elba throughout the year. It is a lovely place to stay, nice and quiet. From here you can go about discovering the charm of this island that is among the finest in the Mediterranean.
Certainly popular in Etruscan and Roman times, the town was named Porto Longone until 1947, referencing to the deep and sheltered bay in which it is located, overlooking the eastern coast of the island. Later, the town took its present name of Porto Azzurro, the beautiful color of the sea. Throughout its history, due to its strategic location along the shipping routes of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the town was often the center of sieges and battles, as testified by the great fortress that dominates the town. Built by the Spaniards in the early 17th century. It is a star-shaped fortified citadel of impressive proportions. It can only be visited externally as nowadays it is used as a prison.
After landing in Porto Azzurro you will be impressed by the picturesque village that counts little more than three thousand inhabitants and has not not lost its maritime soul: the pastel colored houses, narrow uphill streets, the constant unobtrusive liveliness, the large square reflected in the water of the harbor. Recently the remains of an ancient Roman harbor have been discovered right here. Everything contributes to creating a family atmosphere, a quiet and comfortable place where to spend an unforgettable holiday in one of the best holiday resorts that are discretely located in the area.
Porto Azzurro has five beaches to spend a fun day along the proverbial sea of Elba: La Rossa is located in the roadstead of the port, the Pienotta beach just outside the harbor, the large Barbarossa Beach, where the famous pirate landed, the Reale Beach, one of the busiest, and the suggestive Terranera, the sole without beach resorts and consisting of a narrow strip of gravel separating a coastal pond from the open sea.
From the town of Porto Azzurro one can also take long walks, for example to the seventeenth century isolated sanctuary of Our Lady of Montserrat, and to the “small mine”, a faithful recreation of an old mining tunnel, visited by a train. It is a reminder of the millennial mining past of the island, considered a mineralogical museum in the open air, among the largest in the world.
Porto Azzurro is the starting point for exploring the whole Elba island, with its 147 km of coastline, a true paradise for sea and diving lovers, and its mountainous hinterland, culminating with the Mount Capanne and its spectacular hiking trails literally suspended between sea and sky more than 1000 meters high.

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