To Cavoli, for an Italian Beach Day on Elba

Today was the classic Italian beach day. But first it was time to visit the market in Marciana Marina. A typical Italian weekly market, with the usual stuff--clothing, shoes, kitchen stuff and one highlight--rotisserie chicken. We had asked our guide Tatiana her favorite place for lunch and she steered us to the stand where they roast it in the back of a truck.

So we headed off to the island's southern coast to the small beach town of Cavoli. Like so many of these towns, it's a long way down from the road up above, and mountains tower over that. We wound our way down and found a parking place that also sold umbrellas and beach chairs. So we made our way up to the first row and devoured the chicken and some fresh figs and peaches from the market.

No where on Elba, it seems, do you get to park for free near the beach. There's always a machine to feed coins into, or an attendant waiting for euros. So for e22 we had the whole package and were set for a half-day of beach front leisure.

The water was brisk but soon felt great as I floated out and looked back at the beach. There was nothing to do except bask, bask in the lovely little sliver of beach, bordered by rocks, and gaze at our fellow beach goers while letting the afternoon drift away.

Visiting the Site of Napoleon's Trysts

We took a long walk this morning up to the top of Madonna del Monte, the tallest peak on Elba. There is a chairlift that brings people up, but we took the path that is marked by 14 little white stone domes--stations with pictures of Jesus that look like phone booths, along the faded concrete steps that line the way.

Our excellent guide, Tatiana Segnini, a lifelong resident here, had time to share some of the lore of Napoleon, who spent a few nights up here with his lover Maria Velesca, just a short time after he arrived on the island in May 1814. He worried about her safety during a storm when she left, and he didn't mind the spartan setting--he was there for love, and he was a military man, after all.

Tatiana told us that he suffered from ulcers, or stomach cancer, hence the constant clutching of the breast. And that he was frustrated at his sentence to be exiled here, and tried to poison himself unsuccessfully. And that he spent his last six years exiled to yet another island, even further away, St Helena off the coast of Africa. But by then he was a prisoner, not a King as he was on the French controlled Elba. when he came for his famous nine-month stint.

Napoleon came to Elba without his wife, Maria Louisa, and he wrote her letters every day. But his father-in-law, Austria's King, never showed them to her and eventually she took up with another man. The emperor was busy here--funds were cut by Louis the 18th, who despised him, so he had to raise taxes and he helped establish schools, hospitals, and a working economy.

He gave this island a lot, mostly the fame and notoriety that would live on for centuries. And the silly palindrome that everybody says when you tell them you're going to Elba.

Elba's Stunning Vistas and Crisp Whites Please the Senses

Elba is fantastico and fabuloso. I knew we'd like it here but I didn't count on such stunning cliffside vistas, such gorgeous beaches, and such crisp dry wine and fresh from the sea meals.

We began our day at the Hotel Ilio and met Maurizio, who had just returned from Milan. He's getting his masters in marketing. "You know how you have passions and you have your job? I have this hotel but what I really love is marketing and promotion. So he runs his own PR shop and helps promote not only this hotel but this part of the island and Elba proper.

Over coffee we reviewed our maps and decided to go to Marciana Marina, where a long protected harbor is flanked by a concrete seawall and a long beach is filled with Sunday morning loungers. We walked its length and made it to the end where we found Attilio's Ristorante Capo Nord.

We walked in and immediatly were greated by our host. "Max! GoNOMAD!" he said, and brought us to a prime table overlooking the stony beach and sunbathers basking on the rocks on the far right. We decided to leave lunch in his capable hands, and he didn't disappoint, bringing out a plate of appetizers of tuna, anchovy in tomato sauce, little white beans and mussels with breadcrumbs. It was all delicious and the sun shone brightly as people teeter-tottered their way into the sea.

Then he brought us pastas with swordfish chunks and risotto with octopus, redolent of the nearby sea. The wine was from Elba, crisp and dry. Later Maurizio met us and we followed him in his silver Porsche Cayman up the winding roads into the hills to the tiny village of Poggio. Here we met Roberta and learned about the wonderful work she does with orphans in an impoverished Kenyan village. More on this amazing woman later.

Isola de Elba

We drove the northern part of the island of Elba and this was one of the scenes en route. We took the state-owned ferry, Toremar, in the distance you can see the Moby Lines boat coming back from the island.

Early September in Elba

Elba, oh Elba, I am beginning to love you. Spent time today on the phone with Maurizio. He said he would be our personal guide to Elba, where we are traveling on Sept 9. I love planning ferry rides and rental cars in faraway places...we will be meeting his friend Roberta and her family, so we can get to know more about what life is like living in Elba.

Then we'll rent a scooter to do some more exploring. The island, he said, takes one and a half hours to cross. So a bigger place, with Caribbean style coves like this. We are going fishing and will set out to explore this famous island just off Tuscany's coast.