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Island of Elba The Romans on Elba
Since the decline of the Etruscan civilization, Romans inherited the iron industry, exploited the granite quarries and discovered the curative mud baths of San Giovanni Thermae, the beauty of the landscape and excellent wines. "The Island of good wine" said Pliny the Elder.
In this age flourished an intense traffic of ships loaded with
amphorae: many of which are preserved nowadays in the
Archaeological Museums of Portoferraio and
Marciana, which together with other surprising
sea treasures, tell the history of ancient navigation. In the
most scenic gulfs of the island, Romans built the stunning
patrician villas of Linguella, Grotte and Capo Castello, now as
then, charming places.
The Romans called Elba "Ilva" and, during the
first centuries of domination, continued the utilization of its
mineral heritage. They founded the first trading posts on each
island of the Archipelago, and then started a forerunner tourist
tradition. The patrician houses start rising
significantly leaving today fascinating remains in Giannutri,
Pianosa and Elba.
At the fall of the Roman Empire, the trades in the Archipelago
decreased the population underwent a remarkable demographic
crisis which became responsible for the depopulation of almost
all the islands.
The eclipse of the iron from Elba
During Roman times the Tyrrhenian mining district suffered from the general crisis that involved the entire Italic mining industry. The competition against Spanish industries led to a progressive reduction in production, which definitively ended with a law mentioned by Pliny the Elder (Nat. Hist. III, 20, 138; XXXIII, 21, 78). A confirmation of the progressive dismantling of the iron activity in Populonia, is given by the the geographer Strabo, who lived in the Augustan period, and describes the area as a poor town with mines, scattered around, appearing abandoned for long time (Geog. V, 2, 7 ).
The territory experienced, in fact, a different type exploitation
focused this time on farming: it is proved by the many ruins of
villas on the islands (such as the Villa delle Grotte in
Portoferraio) and along the coast.
The situation didn't changed during the Roman Empire: the
traveler Rutilio Namaziano arrived in Populonia in the winter of
417 AD, in front of an abandoned town, where «you can no longer
recognize the monuments erected in the past, huge buildings have
been consumed by the greedy time, and only survives the trace of
the time spent between collapsed and destructed walls, where
roofs are lying buried in vast ruins.»
Saint John pieve
It is an ancient XII century pieve, an important Romanesque
remain between Sant’Ilario town and San Piero town.
Linguella villa
Remains of an ancient Roman villa stood between the I century BC and the III century AD at the entrance to the port of Portoferraio.
Villa delle Grotte
First century BC Roman luxury villa dominating the gulf of Portoferraio
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The Roman villa of the Grottos, with his always visible remains gave its name to the promontory on which it stands in a panoramic position in front of the ...
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