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Towns of the area

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Capraia Isola

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Inhabitants in 1991: 267

The municipal territory extends for 19,26 square kilometres on the rocky ridge of volcanic origin and takes in the whole of the island. The single inhabited centre is situated to the north east on a promontory overlooking the inlet where the little port is found. It was annexed to the Livorno province in 1925, after the detachment from that of Genova.

Noted as Etruscan, Greek and Roman (in 67 B.C. Pompeo swept the board of the den of pirates which it hid), in IV century Capraia became the goal of the Anacoreti monarchs and was placed under the jurisdiction of the Luni Episcopate. In 962 Ottone I conceded it to Pisa; more than once besieged and conquered by the Saracens, it became a Genovese dominion in 1283.

After various episodes, in 1407 it became part of the Fiorentino State, but at the beginning of the XVI century it returned once more into the hands of the Genovese, belonging at first to the de’Mari family, against whom the islanders rebelled, then to the Banco di San Giorgio and lastly in 1562, directly to the Genova republic. They governed it, except for brief intervals, until the English occupation of 1814. The Vienna treaty of 1815 assigned it (and all the Liguria, with whom it had divided its fate also in the period of French domination) to the realm of Sardegna. In 1872 part of its territory was designated as a rural penal colony , which exists even today.

Places to visit:
The vegetation, rich and consisting of very rare specimens
Fort of S. Giorgio, erected by the Genovesi in 1400 on a preceding Pisa nucleus.
The Port, with the remains of a Roman villa.

Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Picture by Gianfranco Bracci
Translated by Ann Mountford


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