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Tuscan Archipelago
The Tuscan Archipelago is a chain of islands between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, west of Tuscany, Italy. The islands' proximity to several major cities has made them a favourite tourist location. History and literature have ensured that most people are familiar with the islands of Elba and Montecristo. Legends says the archipelago originates from a necklace that Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty and sensuality, lost while emerging from the Tyrrhenian sea. In this myth, the seven islands are the seven pearls the goddess was unable to retrieve. Geography The Tuscan Archipelago lies between Corsica and the Tuscan coast and contains seven major islands ( Capraia, Elba, Giannutri, Giglio, Gorgona, Montecristo and Pianosa); all are protected as part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park. The Archipelago extends from the northernmost island (Gorgona) to the southernmost (Giannutri) and from the westernmost (Capraia) to the Tuscan coast. Main Islands (from north to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elba
Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, and the third largest List of islands of Italy, island in Italy, after Sicily and Sardinia. It is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea about east of the French island of Corsica. The island is part of the province of Livorno and is divided into seven municipalities, with a total population of about 30,000 inhabitants which increases considerably during the summer. The municipalities are Portoferraio (which is also the island's principal town), Campo nell'Elba, Capoliveri, Marciana, Marciana Marina, Porto Azzurro, and Rio, Italy, Rio. It is famous for being the site of Napoleon's first exile, from 1814 to 1815. Geography Elba is the largest remaining stretch of land from the ancient tract that once connected the Italian peninsula to Corsica. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus (goddess)
Venus (; ) is a Roman goddess whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles. The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art and Latin literature. In the later classical tradition of the West, Venus became one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. As such, she is usually depicted nude. Etymology The Latin theonym and the common noun ('love, charm') stem from a Proto-Italic form reconstructed as ''*wenos-'' ('desire'), itself from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) ' ('desire'; cf. Messapic , Old Indic 'desire'). Derivatives include ''venustus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magmatic Rock
Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses. Igneous rocks occur in a wide range of geological settings: shields, platforms, orogens, basins, large igneous provinces, extended crust and oceanic crust. Geological significance Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top of the Earth's crust by volume. Igneous rocks f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia and 16.45 km south of the French island of Corsica. It has over 1.5 million inhabitants as of 2025. It is one of the five Italian regions with some degree of Autonomous administrative division, domestic autonomy being granted by a Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, special statute. Its official name, Autonomous Region of Sardinia, is bilingual in Italian language, Italian and Sardinian language, Sardinian: / . It is divided into four provinces of Italy, provinces and a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city. Its capital (and largest city) is Cagliari. Sardinia's indigenous language and Algherese dialect, Algherese Catalan language, Catalan are referred to by both the regional and national law as two of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vada Shoal Lighthouse
Vada Shoal Lighthouse () is an active lighthouse, located circa off Vada on the Ligurian Sea, in order to signal the presence of the shoals. The Lighthouse belongs to the municipal area of Rosignano Marittimo. Description The lighthouse, built in 1868, reconstructed in 1959 and restored in 2008, consists of a cylindrical masonry tower, high, painted black with a red central horizontal band. The tower, settled on a wide concrete jetty encircled by riprap, has the lantern on the top, with a dome painted metallic grey. The light is positioned at above sea level and emits two white flashes in a 10 second period, visible up to a distance of . The lighthouse is completely automated, powered by a solar unit, and is managed by the Marina Militare The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the '' Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scoglio D'Africa
The Scoglio d'Africa (or Scoglio d'Affrica) also named Formica di Monte Cristo ("Monte Cristo's Ant"), is a solitary small skerry belonging to the Tuscan Archipelago located in open sea between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Corsica Channel. It is located west of the Island of Montecristo, south of Pianosa Island and east of Corsica. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio. It is also part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. Description Regarding its size and its shape, it can be considered to all effects an emergent rock in a stretch of shallow sea. It has a rounded contour with the diameter of , an area of and an altitude of only above sea level depending from the tides and the waves. Geologically the skerry belongs to a submarine ridge starting few miles east of Capraia and it extends toward south up to reach Pianosa. The ridge is lying at an average depth of but it decreases in proximity of the island to arrive at . The depths in the region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meloria
Meloria is a rocky skerry, surrounded by a shoal, off the Tuscan coast, in the Ligurian Sea, north-west of Livorno. Meloria shoal The Meloria shoal is an attractive archaeological, naturalistic and historical region that makes part, since 2010, of the ''Area Marina Protetta Secche della Meloria'' (Meloria shoal Marine Protected Area) assigned to the ''Parco naturale di Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli'' (Natural Park of Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli) for the management. The shoal is formed by a rocky bank surrounded by shallow water sandy and muddy of the surface of 9,372 hectare extending up to 12 km offshore. The seabed varies from 2 meters to 30 meters and the habitat is an alternating of rocky areas with characteristic basins seabed with prairies of Posidonia. The sea flora consists mainly of ''Posidonia'' and ''Caulerpa racemosa'' while the fauna has a rich variety as: ''Symphodus roissali'', ''Serranus cabrilla'', ''Scorpaena scrofa'', ''Muraena helena'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skerry
A skerry ( ) is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low stack (geology), sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They are often used as resting places by animals such as Pinniped, seals and seabird, birds. Etymology The term ''skerry'' is derived from the Old Norse ', which means a small rocky island in the sea (which in turn derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *''sker''-, "cut", in the sense of a rock cut off from the land). The Old Norse term ' was brought into the English language via the Scots language word spelled or . It is a cognate of the Scandinavian languages' words for ''skerry'' – Icelandic language, Icelandic, , , , , found also in , , , , and (). In Scottish Gaelic, it appears as ', e.g. Sula Sgeir, in Irish language, Irish as '','' in Welsh language, Welsh as '','' and in Manx language, Manx as ''.'' Formatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmaiola
Palmaiola is an islet located in the middle of Piombino Channel, at from Elba and from Piombino; it is part of the comune of Rio Marina and is wholly owned by the State. Geography In the 14th century it was named ''Insulam Palmarole'' because of the abundance of the Mediterranean dwarf palm at that time. Palmaiola has rocky and craggy cliffs and has a triangular shape; it is 461 metres long, 396 metres wide, 85 metres high and has 1.7 km of coast. It is integrated in the European Union Special Protection Area as Site of Community Importance and it is part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park. Fauna Palmaiola has the advantage of having inaccessible cliffs and a bushy and low vegetation as the garrigue, formed by evergreen plants. Consequently, the European shag, the Scopoli's shearwater, the Falco peregrinus, and the Audouin's gull find it a safe place to nest. Another endemic species on the islet is the European leaf-toed gecko. Palmaiola Lighthouse The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formiche Di Grosseto
The Formiche di Grosseto ("Ants of Grosseto") is a group of islets which emerge sharply in the Tuscan Archipelago. They are located in open sea among the coast of the Natural Park of Maremma and Pianosa, approximately from Porto Santo Stefano on Monte Argentario and from Marina di Grosseto; they are part of the ''comune'' of Grosseto and are placed in a nature reserve which makes part of a special protection area. Description The ''Formiche di Grosseto'' are three islets named, according to their dimensions, ''Formichino'', ''Formica Media'' and ''Formica Grande'' which develop a total surface of about 120,000 square metres which extend lined up from north-west to south-east over one mile. ''Formichino'' is the smallest and is formed by two skerries, is the southernmost and has an area of only 20 square metres. ''Formica Media'' is a long narrow strip of rock that continues under water situated on a shoal. ''Formica Grande'' is the largest, has a rhomboidal shape, it is 370 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
