Capraia Isola in Tuscany

The municipality of Capraia Isola is a built-up area with just 300 inhabitants, which occupies a coastal zone of the Capraia Isola. Without doubt, its origins date back to the XII century, while its St. Giorgio's Fortress dates to the XV century. Nevertheless, the ruins of a Roman villa and other finds testify the presence of settlements also in the ancient times.

The old name of the island was Aegylon, given to it by the Greeks who came here since the XI century B.C. It meant "goats spot", given the presence of moufflons on the territory. Curiously, the Giglio Island derived its name from this toponym, too. Instead, the name of Capraia has nothing to do with the animals living in this place, paradoxically. It derives from the Etruscan word "kapra" meaning rock, in reference to its volcanic coastline characterized by lava rocks.
Both the island and its medieval village, which developed in the Middle Ages, were the target of uninterrupted invasions by the Saracens, to the extent that Genoa and Pisa, putting aside their historical rivalry, fought together against them.
Among the fiercest corsairs who looted Capraia there was Dragut Rais who not only pillaged the island but he also kidnapped its inhabitants to sell them as slaves.
After the naval defeat of the Meloria battle in 1284, Pisa surrendered to Genoa, so that the Ligurian city obtained the outright control over the Capraia island. It was thanks to the Genoese architects that the St. Giorgio's Fortress, built after improving and the reinforcing the ancient castle raised by the Pisans, and the Del Bagno Turret were constructed.
The latter has recently been renovated and it was born to guarantee a safe escape towards the fortress in case of danger.
Moreover, an ancient and almost concealed Roman path was restored and it was used to covertly connect the port to the castle whenever the populations run away from pirates.
In 1873, after the Unity of Italy, the municipality of Capraia Isola gave quite a large part of its territory to the Department of the Interior, where a farming penal colony was created. In 1926, the municipality entered the province of Livorno, while the creation of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago dates to 1996.
It is a natural reserve that embraces the islands of Gorgona, Elba, Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio and Giannutri. Currently, the archipelago's lands have the privilege to make part of the biggest marine park in Europe.