Ustica (; scn, Ùstica) is a small
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
island in the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
. It is about across and is situated north of
Capo Gallo
Mondello is a small borough of the city of Palermo in the Autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily in Southern Italy.
Its beach lies between two cliffs called Mount Gallo and Mount Pellegrino. The town was originally a small fishing village ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. Roughly 1,300 people live in the ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular ferry service from the island to
Palermo in Sicily.
History
Excavations begun in 1989 at Tramontana, also known as Faraglioni, have unearthed what was a large prehistoric village dating from the 14th to the 13th century BC. The foundations of some 300 stone-built houses were discovered, and the defensive walls of the settlement are among the strongest fortifications of any period known in Italy. It is believed that these early settlers came over from the
Aeolian Islands.
In historic times, the island has been populated at least since about 1500 BC by
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
n peoples. In
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
, the Island was named ''Osteodes'' (ossuary) in memory of the thousands of
Carthaginian mutineers left there to die of hunger in the 4th century BC. The
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
renamed the island ''Ustica'',
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for ''burnt'', for its black rocks. The island is also known locally as the "black pearl".
In the 6th century, a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
community settled in the island, but was soon forced to move because of ongoing wars between
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
ans and
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
s. Attempts to colonize the island in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
failed because of raids by
Barbary pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
s.
In the mid-18th century, the island was settled by approximately 90 people from the island of
Lipari
Lipari (; scn, Lìpari) is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, southern Italy; it is also the name of the island's main town and ''comune'', which is administratively part of the Metropo ...
, an island also located north of Sicily, but east of Ustica. They brought with them the patron saint of Lipari,
Bartholomew the Apostle, who became the patron saint of Ustica as well. In the mid- to late 19th century and early 20th century, as the population of the island grew too large, hundreds of Ustican families emigrated to the United States. Many of these families settled in
and surrounding areas, where there are today thousands of descendants whose ties remain strong to Ustica. A smaller number of families settled in San Jose and San Francisco, in New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Montana and in Chicago.
Fascist prison island
During the
Fascist years in Italy and until the 1950s, Ustica was used as an island prison.
Benito Mussolini banished thousands of political opponents to Ustica, often as many as 1,500 at a time; many were homosexuals. Both
Antonio Gramsci and
Amadeo Bordiga
Amadeo Bordiga (13 June 1889 – 25 July 1970) was an Italian Marxist theorist, revolutionary socialist, founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), member of the Communist International (Comintern) and later a leading figure of the Interna ...
were sent there.
In the early 1940s Yugoslav war prisoners were crammed onto the island, and many of them died from malnutrition and tuberculosis. In the 1950s they were followed by suspected
Mafiosi
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
expelled from Sicily.
"New Capri?"
''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'', September 1, 1961.
On June 27, 1980, Itavia Flight 870
On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica, killing all 81 people on board. Known ...
crashed into the sea off the island while en route to Palermo, killing all 81 people on board. The event became known as the ''Ustica massacre''.
Environment
The island has limited sources of water, and vegetation is consequently scarce. The coast has numerous rocks and grottoes.
Ustica is home of the honeybee '' Apis mellifera sicula''.
File:Ustica.jpg, An image of Ustica at sunset.
File:UsticaFerry.jpg, Ustica seen from the ferryboat.
File:Ustica panorama del porto e del paese.jpg, A panorama of the Ustica harbour
File:Torre Santa Maria ad Ustica.jpg, Santa Maria Tower near the Ustica harbour
File:Torre dello Spalmatore - Ustica.jpg, Tower of the Spalmatore - Ustica
File:Ustica costa nord.jpg, The northern coast of Ustica
Tourism
Ustica is particularly known for scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...
, with a number of diving schools established on the island. Recreational divers are attracted by the relatively deep dives, which are a feature of the island's volcanic geology.
See also
* List of islands of Italy
This is a list of islands of Italy. There are over 400 islands in Italy, including islands in the Mediterranean Sea (including the marginal seas: Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, Libyan Sea, Ligurian Sea, Sea of Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea, and inland is ...
References
External links
Ustica Genealogy
*
{{Authority control
Islands of Sicily
Stratovolcanoes of Italy
Volcanoes of the Tyrrhenian
Pleistocene stratovolcanoes
Pleistocene Europe
Province of Palermo