Portoferraio

FIRST TOWN OF ELBA

Portoferraio, Elba's main harbour, is located on the northeast coast. The port structure still retains the old Renaissance walls built in the ' 500 by Cosimo I de ' Medici. A city of ancient origins, also known as Porto Argo in mythological narratives, it owes its name to the iron and the mines that made the fortune of the whole island.

Despite the urban structure of the country has remained faithful to the late Renaissance period, in earlier times Roman and Greek left testimony of their presence, as in the ruins of the patrician villa of the Grotte, full of decorations and mosaics age of Adrian, or in those of the Roman villa della Linguella. During the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, Portoferraio knew its period of greatest splendour; in the living room the Emperor forced the island became a public works construction and modernization. You can still admire the dwellings that he chose to reside: the residence of San Martino and the Villa dei Mulini.

 

Traditions

Portoferraio is a town rich in history, traditions, celebrated the Napoleonic May, event in which remembers the Napoleonic period of exile with a mass for the repose of the emperor. For the occasion, costumed parade through the streets of the village until you come to the villas where Napoleon.

 

Typical products

In Portoferraio, taste the delicacies of the sea as the octopus to Elba, boiled with potatoes and "panzanella", dried bread soaked in water seasoned with onions, peppers, tomatoes, tuna and anchovies, are specialties that are worth a taste.