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Home , Gavi (island), Palmarola, Pontine Islands, Ponza, Ventotene, Zannone

The Archipelago of the in Nature Travelling the Pontine Archipelago, by Folco Quilici and Maurilio Cipparone

REGIONE Concept: APT DI LATINA Texts: Folco Quilici and Maurilio Cipparone Translation: The Arts Development Partnership, East Sussex, UK Illustrations: Milo Manara Photographs: Archivio Apt Latina, Fabrizio Ardito, I-BUGA, Adriano Madonna, Paolo Petrignani, Luciano Romano, Sandro Vannini Maps: Leo Pecchioni Graphic design: Idea NaMa Latina Printing: La Stampa S.p.A. Genova 2006

Inter-regional project ‘The island that does not exist’ Law no. 135/2001 – art. 5 – comma 5 – a co-financing of the Ministero Attività Produttive – Direzione Regionale Turismo. The Archipelago of the Pontine Islands Islands in Nature

BY Folco Quilici e Maurilio Cipparone

CONTENTS

A brief geographical note 4 Travelling the Pontine Archipelago by Folco Quilici 6 and , islands in nature by Maurilio Cipparone 20 Useful information 34 Archaeological and other sights 34 Tradition 34 Nature 35 Transport 35 Contact offices and general assistance 35 The Archipelago of the Pontine Islands

Palmarola

A brief geographical note The Pontine Islands, known as the Ponziane, com- prise two groups: Ponza, , Zannone and to the northwest and Ventotene and Santo Stefano to the southeast. These groups are separated by about 22 nautical miles. Some 6 km to the south of Ponza the soli- tary rock known as “The Botte” rises from the sea. The geographical coordinates from the meridian of Monte Mario in Rome are northerly latitude 40° 58’ 56” and 40° 47’ 50” and easterly 4 Zannone santo Stefano

Ventotene

longitude 0° 23 40” and 1° 4’ 50”. The Ponza group of islands looks northeast towards the curving -Circeo peninsula (the shortest distance being between Zannone and the Circeo – 12 nautical miles), while Ventotene faces (21 miles distant). Ventotene could be described as the “umbilical” centre of the and is also the halfway point between Ponza and , each 20 miles away. Ponza and Ventotene are populated; the smaller islands are not. Ventotene and Santo Stefano are land and sea conserva- tion areas, supervised by the Ministry of the Environment, administra- tion being in the hands of the Municipality. 5 Travelling the Pontine Archipelago By Folco Quilici

n spring, the anticipa- islands turn green, when flower and bud tion is intensified by a add fragrance to the air. I cannot recall a I desire to get the boat year without feeling this urge for the sea, back in the water, and the start of another summer season that make the crossing to the will continue until next autumn’s first Pontine Islands just as the northwest breezes. That I should make smell of land and sea infuse the connection between my yearning one another, when the for the sea and the islands – as one who has visited so many islands in the world – is not only because of their beauty, above and below the water, but because these islands were my first “archipelago”. Ponza, crowned by its uninhabited rocks, Palmarola and Zannone in the wings, and the black stone mono- lith of the “Botte” rising from the deep blue of the high seas as one heads towards Ventotene. My first dives were in the shallows and deeps of those islands; and it was here I learned to use a breath- ing mask. I delighted in the first sensation of putting a foot on a deserted island, magnificent and all my own. I speak of Palmarola, gem of the Archipelago, and for me one of the most beautiful islands ever to have been born of the sea. Here are solitude, silence, emptiness and wonder. Alone with its multicoloured volcanic rocks, its deep and l i m p i d plays of light. At Zannone, also, the waters, Palmarola is a underwater world reflects the reality on mirage of sea beds to the surface: a cover of fine green woods explore and to discover, an above and many escarpments below, island bewitching in its leading down to the seabed, covered by a protected sleep, cradled by mantle of marine vegetation, forests of a whispering and reassur- dense and shimmering sea fans whose ing sea. violet-tipped foliage turns fiery red The sails open with a stiff when we switch on our lamps. gust of wind and the boat As we emerge we find ourselves opposite slips along on a friendly sea. an archaeological ruin, a fishery dating We are sailing round from Roman times, cut into the rocks. It another island, green as the is connected to the sea by an underwater back of a lizard, and we tunnel, accessible by external steps, close drop anchor at Zannone, to the Port of Varo. which is part of the Circeo At Ponza, the overall view and the sur- National Park and super- rounding landscape have changed little vised by forest guards. The since that summer many years ago when lighthouse recalls the old I disembarked from the mail boat. films of intrigue and On the island I rented a room overlook- adventure. We are in the ing the port. The window gave me a custodian’s house, visiting comprehensive view of the port that for the small natural history me, architecturally speaking is one of museum, before wander- the most beautiful in the world. Many ing the nearby ruins of a islands of the Mediterranean were for- medieval convent. Just merly places of exile. Ponza was one thinking about the life of a such, 2,000 years ago, for important people community in search of such as Agrippina, and again during the God, solemn, without 1920s and 1930s, in the period of Fascism. boundaries, sets the ima- This role, however, had an important gination racing. This tiny positive side in the decades when island universe reaches began to redraw her landscape (too beyond itself, and into a often for the worse) because it saved the mirror-like sea, reflecting island from being damaged as elsewhere onto its surface and way by urbanisation and . down to the seabed. Ponza eventually entered the large and Diving at Palmarola, the colourful circle of Mediterranean crystal waters reflect the tourism, becoming one of the star shadows and lights of attractions, but without losing character extraordinary rock forma- and identity in the process. I have been tions, like those all around coming back to Ponza every year for the island. As it is above the forty years, and the island still awaits me water so it is below - caves, like a girlfriend who never ages and passageways, and magical needs no makeup. Certainly, it has

8 undergone transformations, some far- moved to the mainland, to reaching. From being poor the island has places offering greater secu- become wealthy. From having been its rity. Around 1550, three own unchanging mirror image, now the captains of the flotilla of the island hums with an almost explosive notorious pirate vitality. We no longer refer to ‘them’, the were out “hunting” in the fishermen and sailors of the island, the Tyrrhenian sea, when they “Ponzesi”, known throughout the discovered in the now Tyrrhenian region for their qualities of deserted islands of the quietness and efficiency. Thinking of Pontine Archipelago a them, and trying to remember their secure base for carrying out advice and their stories, the old boats repairs after storms. The come to mind, their method of fishing islands further afforded an for the Coryphaena hippurus or the passing ideal hideaway from which tuna fish and their old-fashioned way of to launch attacks on passen- gathering coral on the Sardinian coast. A ger vessels – capturing parade of hulls, characters and wit, of cargo, passengers and orders given through clenched teeth. equipment and taking them Even today, going to sea, I well remem- as far away as the “coast of ber these things because fishermen’s say- Barbary” and to Gerba (in ings, though apparently banal, could Tunisia), that lair for pirate become irrefutable wisdom in the right fleets. We can keep our day- context. Their seafaring lore became dreams alive since the island famous long ago - when the Romans, in setting, of hidden bays and difficulties against the Carthaginians secure hideaways, is quite during the Punic wars, sought their sufficient to invoke the help; when, in 1757, after many naval same spirit of adventure, victories against barbaric pirates, ships discovery and challenge. from Ponza, Rome and defeated The wonderful world of the pirate fleet at Palmarola. And when, underwater adventure in the early nineteenth century, the came to the Pontine inhabitants of Ponza became fearsome Archipelago in the late seamen and pirates as well as enemies of 1940s. Sport was first to the Bourbons. arrive in these waters, then Writing about the Mediterranean, I exploration and research, could not resist rereading the accounts, which owed their expansion carefully edited in the eighteenth centu- to the sheer size of the area. ry by the papal marine historian, the Other “islands” dot the Dominican Alberto Guglielmotti, Archipelago as well, still lit- describing the Pontine Islands as being tle known and yet to be suitable as a hideout and for the laying of fully discovered. These are ambushes. The islands, for fear of pirate the submerged islands of incursions, were already abandoned by iron, the remains of vessels the sixteenth century. Even the monks lost during the two world

9 wars – the hulk of the to the northern shore, it was thrown up Corriere di Ponza sunk by a against the rocks of Ponza and began to German submarine on the sink vertically. The prisoners, released 21st of March 1918, off from the hold, were saved along with Zannone, and the fractured the escort and equipment. The islanders hull of the steamer Santa then came to the assistance of both cap- Lucia sunk near Ventotene tors and captured. The vessel now lies on the 21st of July 1943 by some twenty-five metres down, con- British torpedo aircraft. tinually targeted by divers. I have known These two lost ships excite it for forty years and I follow with some and stimulate the imagina- emotion its slow transformation from a tion of explorers. Another dead iron skeleton to one of this sea’s wreck is that of an American living reefs - covered with infinite forms Liberty ship, sunk during of life, now clinging to it, inviolable hide- the storm of March 1944 outs for colonies of sea bream and small near the coast of Ponza, off grouper. The Pontine Archipelago, Punta del Papa. It was on its spread out at the centre of an “historic” way to Naples carrying ocean (which the Tyrrhenian sea cer- German prisoners of war. tainly is), was bound to make its contri- Caught by the storm close bution to underwater archaeology. In

10 fact, in 1985, two inhabitants of Ponza, the environment. Whoever Silverio Mazzella and Roberto Calo, watches them carefully set- located the wreck of a Roman ceremoni- tling into the tanks might al vessel laden with amphorae, in the imagine them as the direct open sea near Secca dei Mattoni (on the descendants of the eels once eastern face of the island). The recovery bred by slaves, in the service operation yielded the experts a treasure of greedy patricians, guests of over seventy perfectly conserved of the overlooking villa. amphorae, now held in the rooms of the They dedicated themselves Municipality. passionately to the breeding and were excellent adminis- Pontius Pilate’s fishery trators (the story of slaves being thrown into the tanks The old Roman fisheries are another as food to fatten the eels is noteworthy reminder of the classical just folklore that the people period. Nowadays these can only be here enjoy recounting to reached by sea. It takes ten minutes by passing tourists!). I am by rowing boat from the port. No longer now accustomed to the prisoners of men, but freely, numerous gloom, flecked by random moray eels live here and have adapted to spots of light from the play

11 of sunrays refracted on at sea level. I swim through tortuous the waves outside the shafts; labyrinths that on close inspec- cave. Slowly I make my tion are a real masterpiece of hydraulic way in under the moun- engineering, the seawater levels being tain, where the tunnel is constantly topped up in the various compartments, so that the balance between the fresher, plankton-filled water and other nutritional waters vital to the rearing of fish is never lost. Visited by hundreds of curious people each summer, it is a dense network of tunnels and two separate water systems allowing different types of fish to be reared. Traces of ancient artistic embellishment remain on the bottom, inside the tanks. When the Ponza fisheries were built at the beginning of the first century A.D., at the height of the reign of , as if 2,000 years had not passed. another similar development was taking In fact the port jetty with its place on the island of Ventotene, the two bollards and shops cut most secluded land of the Archipelago, straight out of the soft local towards which we are now heading. volcanic rock, are exactly as they once were. Arriving here Ventotene, and tethering the boat to one the southernmost island of the stone bollards, I am doing just what any sailor Another centre of flourishing tourism, from a Roman galley or Ventotene draws people not just by its Aragonese man-of-war would beauty but also because, architecturally have done in his time. speaking, Rome is still alive here. Its port To reach the Roman port of remains in use, totally evocative for any- Ventotene, I have sailed one who understands what it means to through the channel that sep- drop anchor in a stretch of sea linked to arates this contented island ancient times and which makes it seem from its small twin Santo Stefano, also contented for ing one at the same time of Kafkaesque the time being though for castles and baroque follies in the two centuries a place of sad- Neapolitan style. The island’s only peri- ness and pain. From Bourbon od of prolonged human habitation was times and until five years when Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, ago, Santo Stefano was used decided to build the penitentiary, as a penitentiary. It con- reserved for prisoners with life sen- tinues to be dominated by tences. The design commission was the abandoned prison given to the architect Francesco Carpi. buildings, still massive and He was responsible, among other proj- structurally intact, remind- ects, for the port buildings of Ponza. The

14 penitentiary buildings were completed further tempted to imagine on the 2nd of September 1795. Over the it as a channel through years the prison of Santo Stefano “host- which to immerse myself ed” many important persons, among in the motherly womb them Luigi Settembrini, the anarchist of the Mediterranean: Bresci who assassinated King Umberto I, that fertile, abundant, who was to become resplendent and mysteriou- President of the Republic and other anti- sly beautiful divinity. fascists. For some time there has been a Mine is not fantasy; or, plan to turn the buildings into a marine better still, perhaps up to a biology laboratory and conference centre point it is. There are facts, for historical and scientific research. experiences, and archaeo- Meanwhile, the years have taken their logical discoveries that can toll on Santo Stefano and the once give expression to these impenetrable walls of the sinister jail and images of the cave, hewn its outside service buildings have been from land to sea, as being severely damaged. Wild flowers have not only a physical channel overgrown the old cemetery, the now but also one that is mystical, empty graves are without headstones or even magical. inscriptions, and the words which once dominated the entrance - “here ends the justice of men, here begins the justice of The underwater God” - are now almost illegible. island At Ventotene, the ancient Romans had also established a small industry for the The inexhaustible archaeo- rearing, production and conservation of logical richness of the sea in fish with a system of breeding tanks even this archipelago rewarded more sophisticated than the one in explorers with yet another Ponza. A young boy from Ventotene, treasure. In 1981 the wreck squeezing without mask or flippers into of a Roman ceremonial ves- the tunnels of the underwater tanks, sel surfaced from under a takes me to a point where one can see, cover of sand with its cargo: still in working condition, the oldest ivory handles, lead fittings, contraption dating back to when the marbles and tiles, fired brick fishery was last in use: a dividing grate in and an infinite quantity of the form of a slab of stone densely perfor- copper nails still penetrat- ated by tiny holes so to permit the circu- lation of water but not of fish. I like to ing the lead coverings of the imagine this man-made cave, like the wood. There is another par- one in Ponza, to be not just a fish nurs- ticular curiosity: a box con- ery but also a sacred space dedicated to taining a bundle of ivory the gods, to beauty, carved from the pens – surely the Roman belly of earth and sea. From there I am equivalent of the modern

15 “biro”. Once again there marble on which a fire would burn were amphorae, all her- either for on-board necessities or to give metically sealed, their con- thanks to the gods of the sea. The tents grapes and spices. Of ancient world, in the Pontine Islands, has greatest value on board was other presences. At times this world an altar-piece, a sheet of comes alive.

16 As soon as I started to weigh anchor I realised that it was trapped. I am still unsure, but its fluke seems to have penetrated the eye of another anchor lost on that same seabed very many years ago. It got stuck in the “button- hole”, chiselled through the soft stone by a Phoenician so that a rope could be attached. Primitive and roughly fashioned, though functional in its day, here was a stone anchor dropped from a boat millennia ago finding its way to the bottom of this bay, where I was also taking shel- ter. Yesterday the Phoenicians; today our- selves! The beauty and uniqueness of the Archipelago can be summed up in this one description: it belongs both to the sea and to the past. Whoever disem- barks here crosses into a world of mystery, through the unseen gates to another dimension. Phoenician ghosts

This island still offers surprises and ghosts, like the one I encountered one day as I was sheltering in a small bay from an easterly wind. It was nearing dusk.

17

Zannone and Ventotene - Islands in nature By Maurilio Cipparone

20 In praise of the islands

efore describing the distinctive features of islands such as BZannone and Ventotene we must remember that islands bear no comparison to mountains and plains. Mountains are majestic, snow-capped, steep, high - if not exceedingly high. Non-climbers are excluded from views of the furthest horizons. They are obsta- cles in the way, challenges to over- come. Who, however, would want to have a mountain all to them- selves? And what about a plain? This can be extensive, sometimes stretching as far as the eye can see, its fields often flowering and its grasses undulating like the sea. As in so many film backdrops, it can be crossed on horseback, by wagon or on a train puffing clouds of steam. Yet, who would want a plain all to themselves? Islands, however, stand apart. They are like ships of rock anchored in the sea. The most distant of them make one long to go out to them, instead of pushing one away. They wear necklaces of surf over their sea-blue clothing while the seagulls trace their floating wisps of hair and their romantic lighthouses speak and befriend, each with its own language of silent lights. Islands can be deserted, or inhabited by communities that are often a race apart. On islands, time stands still, beat- ing its different rhythms and

21 governed not by working hectares, it is a cross between a rock and hours or frantic agendas a small island. Here we find written an but by the wind alone, stir- extraordinary if not yet completely deci- ring the sea that divides phered page in the geological history of them. the Tyrrhenian Sea. Zannone, in fact, is An island is, by definition, the only island off the Pontine coast on evocative. It is romantic, a which can be observed a complete destination for well-heeled chronology of rock strata spanning, or casual tourists, naturally according to some writers, the last 400 iridescent, perfumed and million years. According to others, how- alluring, beautiful in sum- ever, the most reliable history traced in mer and perhaps more so the rock is “only” 250 million years old: a in winter. Who has not dreamt of taking refuge on millennium here or there, what differ- a distant island? And, to return to “our” Pontine Islands in the Mediterranean, who, among those familiar with them, has not wanted to live a while in the old Zannone lighthouse or get away for a sabbatical in a comfort- able cave on Palmarola or a hut on Ventotene? Whether called Ponza, Palmarola or Zannone, Santo Stefano or Ventotene, it is their status as “islands” that really makes us want to explore them, to live on them as Nature, in all her secret ways, intended. Part rock, part volcano

We begin our exploration with Zannone. Having a surface area of only 102

22 ence does it make? On Zannone the old- Capo Negro, is a blend of sedi- est rocks, dating with relative certainty mentary rocks, made up of lime- to around the Mesozoic and Superior stone, dolomite rocks, clays and Triassic eras (from 290-250 million years sandstone, deposited there 250-20 ago), are to be found in the region million years ago. In other words, between the Punta di Levante, Punta del when the mountains were form- Lauro and Capo Negro. They are meta- ing on the continent, a very shal- low reef probably formed here to morphic rocks, those that have emerged submerge and resurface over the from the depths of the earth due to tec- course of millions of years, possi- tonic phenomena, where they were first bly many times, hence bearing formed over time under unimaginable the traces of various sedimentary pressure and in hellish temperatures. strata. At a certain point, how- On the same side and slightly beyond ever, the bed of the Tyrrhennian Sea stopped moving. Between the end of the Pliocene and the start of the Pleistocene eras, give or take one and a half million years, the Pontine sea became violently active and was battered by strong volcanic eruptions for around 500,000 years. The debris from these went on to form the rest of Zannone: the part including Monte Pellegrino (a dome-shaped protrusion that rises to 194 metres above sea level), the rock of Monaco and the slope of Varo. Today there are working sites which the geologists refer to as “lava layers” and “pyroclastic flows” which by all accounts complete the extraordinary prac- tical encyclopaedia of geo- dynamic events that have charac- terised the whole Mediterranean region. Explosions and eruptions

On Ventotene the “stomach

23 eruptions” of the all exposed surfaces but also periods in Tyrrhenian Sea revealed which the eruption was predominantly themselves in a different effusive, with the lava in some places way. On this island there is interwoven with the and in others no evidence of ancient rock sitting on top of it. The island’s genesis is formations or of the effects also the reason for its greater beauty of the sea. The island’s 150 compared to Zannone - at least in so far hectares of flat, stretched as the form and colours of the volcanic and tortuous terrain is mass are concerned. It is a beauty best made up of lava (surround- appreciated by slow moving boat. This ing the western edge from enables one to see superimposed layers Cala Battaglia to the of grey and blackish lava, tuff that Semaphoro) and for the displays all the possible combinations of most part of stratified tuff. brown dappled with light hazelnut and This means that the peri- even violet hues, and vertical cliffs dec- ods of volcanic activity that orated with strange lattice work and occa- took place here up to about sionally pock-marked by caves, pillars of one million years ago wit- varying dimensions, some arches and an nessed not only gigantic occasional small beach. explosions with unending In many places and as late as Roman clouds of pulverised vol- times, the “body” of the island was canic material that fell to altered by a series of excavations (to form the other strata of make tanks, fish-farms and the spectacu- tuff present across almost lar Roman port), and by the materials

24 used to strengthen these constructions. In search of Here and there old caves are still recog- leguminous plants nisable, gouges that throw up vertical walls and geometric structures beyond The vegetation of the islands even Nature’s most creative moments. grouped with Ponza differs great- Other changes, less obvious to the ly from those grouped with untrained eye, were caused by erosion Ventotene. The former, aside and landslides, which continue today from what is endemic to it, is due to the particularly fragile tuff. Thus much wilder and similar to what the entire profile of the island alters with is found on most of the central the passing of time. Some call Ventotene Mediterranean islands. On the “fragile island”; others, more poetic- Ventotene, however, the natural vegetation has been almost entire- ally, prefer to imagine it as wanting to ly replaced by cultivation, vital change appearance all the time, as for the survival of the island’s perhaps did those unfortunate ladies inhabitants although more so in who in ancient times lived here in the past. The perfumed myrtle long and lazy exile. bushes, the clumps of white and pink flowers and perhaps even Holm-oaks and privet shrubs have been replaced by less exotic

25 but more edible vegetation: precious, for example thickets of a vari- queen of them all is the ety of cornflower, whose leaves are cov- lentil, Ventotene's true gas- ered with thick white down, some dwarf tronomic legend. palms that must be relics of drier and Not all is lost, however, as hotter climes and, above all, the lemon the botanists would say. On tree of Ventotene. The latter is the most the most precipitous crags, famous floral treasure of this little in amongst the fissures of island, an indigenous plant that only plain tuff can still be found lives here and which characterises the aromatic plants such as the particular environment of the island curry plant and samphire whilst also representing its most vulner- and others just as rare and able and threatened element. Its name derives from the Greek “leimon”, mean- Roman villa. ing lawn. It grows ten to fifteen centime- Trees and not just typical shrubs tres tall, can take root even in the tight- are to be found on Zannone. est cracks and wraps itself around the Historical documents tell us that rocks covering them with small blue- in 1800 the island was so com- violet flowers that resemble lavender pletely wooded that it had spe- from July to September. On Ventotene, cially appointed timber watch- the lemon tree is found above all on the men. Employed by the council of promontory of Punta Eolo. For those nearby Ponza, they were there to who love their flights of both fancy and supervise the use of the trees poetry, it is perhaps a floral bouquet to from which the inhabitants the ladies who in times past lived in the would make stakes, timber sup- ports for the vines, or char- interesting for it, consisting of medium- coal for baking the lime. sized Holm-oaks interspersed with pista- Today, on Zanone, there chio trees, hardy heathers as well as lau- remains an evergreen strip of rels that grow in the Cave of Lauro, woodland, small but no less whose name suggests that the laurel was once more abundant here than it is today. Elsewhere the island is embel- lished with beds of typical Mediterranean undergrowth - sun roses, bushes of lentil and myrtle, heather shrubs, Filliree and wild olive trees and juniper. The wild broom literally clings on to the cliffs, a colonising and pioneering species defin- able by its hardiness. In the cracks of the plants but the wildlife of the cliffs, fighting against the wind, we find islands also includes animals. the Helicrisum, the Senecio, the corn flower The predominant charac- and, no less than on Ventotene, the teristic of Zannone and Limonium pontium, var. pontium, another “sea Ventotene, compared to the lavender”, an indigenous lemon plant other islands, is that they are that adapts itself to the particular condi- at the same time a sort of tions on Zannone. There are over 350 radio beacon to help migrat- plant species to be found on the island, ing birds follow the proper some of themextremely rare. route on their extraordinary voyage. They also act as a Flying in the wind stepping stone allowing the birds to land, rest and feed Thus far we have discussed earth and albeit at risk of the traps, arrows and snares that acious and fortunate birdwatchers can were and (in some cases) also expect some surprise sightings by remain a danger on the perhaps catching, in the small frame of Pontine Archipelago. These sky in their binoculars, flocks of collared hunting techniques were doves, ibis, various species of falcon, the understandable in the old blue-throated diver, red-rumped swal- times when the islanders low and even black-throated divers, gan- could not afford the luxury nets, cranes and swans. On this island as of rejecting animal pro- much as on Zannone (and more gener- teins fallen from the sky. ally across the Archipelago) both the They may be traditional, Manx and the Great shearwater are but today they are an common. Some pairs remain on the tips unjustifiable, even cruel of the island even during winter, but the abuse. On Ventotene greater number arrive in summer hav- around 200 species of bird ing journeyed many thousands of miles have been sighted (a little from South Africa and along the western under half of those that coast of the African continent before make up the entire Italian coming into the Mediterranean. Here bird population). Almost they disperse to nest amongst the rocks, all are migratory species, outcrops and cliffs, arriving in the Italian mainly petrels and shear- Adriatic and continuing to the Tremiti waters. The more ten- Islands. On the Pontine Islands the sea-

30 skimming flight of the imal kingdom, from protozoa to Manx shearwater has vertebrates, shellfish, spiders and attained legendary sta- scorpions, crickets, water beetles, tus. It is wonderful spec- day and night-time butterflies tacle, like a fast ride on a and, perhaps most visible to non- cushion of air, the birds experts, the Patrizi lizard. flashing their white breast feathers as they skim the waves. The Protected nature, night-time song of the nature below shearwater is actually the surface similar to the cry of a new-born baby, a fact We mentioned that Zannone was still feeding the popular the first island to become part of a myth that it is the lamenta- national park. Finally protected, tion of Diomede’s com- its marine life attracts much panions grieving at the attention. In this stretch of the disappearance of the Tyrrhenian Sea between the Greek hero. On Zannone Pontine and Campanine islands, a birds have been studied campaign run between 1991 and for a long time and the 1995 by a number of enthusiasts most complete observations are owed to reported 330 sightings of sea the Marchese Camillo Casati di Soncino, mammals: not only dolphins and once the island’s only tenant. He identi- striped dolphins, the most com- fied 138 species, out of more than 160 res- mon, but also Risso’s dolphins, fin ident or migratory species now recog- whales, and sperm whales, well nised. Among these are the marsh owl, known by old fishermen who sparrow hawk, queen hawk, the per- sometimes had to compete with egrine and fisher falcons, the solitary them on September nights as sparrow, woodpecker, black stork, field- they fished for the Todarodes saggit- fare, woodcock and quail. Of the latter tatus and squid. Around Zannone, species a local nineteenth-century then, are abundant beds of ocean enthusiast, Giuseppe Tricoli, records the sea grass, which demonstrate the bagging of 10,000 head per season and quality of the waters and environ- recounts that “in the woods of the ment just as a fishery dug into the Cavone del Lauro there were vast num- rock by the Romans near the bers of turtle doves”. Zannone is also the Varo indicates the great variety of first Italian island to be included in a fish. On the shallower beds of the national park, that of the Circeo, from rocky ridge between Zannone the 23rd of January 1979. All this is by and Gavi reside large quantities of way of highlighting the island’s rich spider crab, a fat (and to its own endowment of indigenous species repres- misfortune a very tasty) crus- enting a significant segment of the an- tacean relative of the crab. The

31 protection of the wildlife of reefs continue under the surface the islands ought to be with long walls covered in crus- extended out to sea but des- tacean organisms and full of nooks pite many scientific studies and crannies and caves carpeted by and completed conferences multi-coloured sponge, hiding the proposal has always grouper of different sizes, octopi been received with scepti- and moray eels and rarer species cism, if not hostility. Since such as cleaner prawns or the the 11th May 1999, Cypraea sp. On the shaded slopes Ventotone (and the little of many stretches of coast the large island of Santo Stefano) markings left by colonies of have been state-owned orange-coloured sea stars are still nature reserves. As early as clearly visible. At greater depths, the 12th December 1997, a mainly below thirty metres, we part of the surrounding sea come across yellow and red sea (2799 hectares) had already fans and the delicate trails of the become a marine protec- bryozoans, otherwise known as sea tion area. The Touring moss, that can grow to notable Club tells us that “the clarity dimensions in these waters.” This of the water is remarkable. The description of the richness of the

32 marine life is completed by “ swarms of red bream, perch and other species of wrasse; however, the seas of Ventotene and Santo Stefano permit other unforgettable encoun- ters such as sightings of the larger sea mam- mals – for example passing fin whales, the little striped dolphins and sea turtles.” Such a description gives the islands their right to be known, appreciated and not to be ignored in the matter of their protection. USEFUL INFORMATION

Archaeological and other sights The Port of Ponza. Roman and pre-Roman ruins: the fish nursery of Pilate’s Cave; the tomb over Chiaia di Luna and that of the Bagno Vecchio; the tunnel of Chiaia di Luna and Santa Maria; the aqueduct carved into the rock at Le Forna - Cala Inferno - Santa Maria; and cisterns for water gathering (Dragonara, Grotta dei Serpenti, at Aniello Tagliamonte, Migliaccio and Bagno Vecchio). In the 18th-c. town centre: the semi- circular port (1772-93), with the Molo Musco benches (outside) and the Tenente di Fazio (inside); the municipal church, the parish church of the Trinity (1761-79), dedicated also to the patron saints Silverio and Domitilla, and the Corso Pisacane with its multi-coloured shops. To the rear of the town and slightly above is the Tower of the Bourbons, today a hotel. On a small hill that dominates the entrance to the port is the little cemetery. Ponza Le Forna The Church of the Assumption (1772-74); the ruins of Fort Papa. Palmarola The cave houses: homes, shelters, ruins excavated in the 17th c. and before. Zannone The island is part of the , which has its own small archive. Forest guards supervise the park. Near the Jetty of Varo is a roman fishery, and above it are the ruins of the convent of Santo Spirito di Zennone, abandoned at the end of the 18th c. Ventotene Roman remains: the old port, carved into the rock, and a fishery fed by an under- water conduit with a platform covered in cup-shaped holes for the harvest of salt; the ruins of Villa Giulia and of the tuff quarries; the Municipal Antiquary with statues, anchors and amphora and the excavations at Villa Giulia; the extensive cave system of Villa Stefania. The 17th-c. Town centre: the little square, the castle (1768-70) that is now the town hall, the church of Santa Candida (1769-73), the pathways, arches and the Pozzillo. Santo Stefano The building that housed the state penitentiary (1795) is in poor condition (although there have been minor attempts at maintenance) but is open to the public by means of guided tours. Tradition Ponza celebrates the feast of San Silverio on the 20th of June and in February it is also celebrated in the village of Le Forna. At Easter the town festival of Casatiello 34 takes place, while on the 21st of July the feast of the Madonna della Cività is cel- ebrated. On the 20th of September Ventotene celebrates Santa Candida with the launch of a hot air balloon. Nature It is difficult to list nature’s myriad gifts to the islands - unique, unusual and subtly coloured. They include: On Ponza: the Faraglioni of Calzone Muto, the beach of Lucia Rosa, the large marine reefs of Casocavallo, Montagnello, del Felce, Spaccapolpi; the beaches of Chiaia di Luna, S. Antonio, Cala del Core, Frontone; the bays of Cala Feola, Acqua and Fonte. On Palmarola: the Faraglioni of San Silverio and of Mezzogiorno, the bays of Porto, Tramontana and Brigantina; the reefs of the bay of Nave (Nave di terra, Nave di fuori and Scoglitello), the beaches in the bays of Nave, Rossano and Parata. This is an extraordinary sea. Transport The islands are reachable from various ports: Ventotene Ponza from Anzio from Anzio (hydrofoil and ferry all year) (hydrofoil and ferry all year) from (hydrofoil and ferry all year) from Formia (hydrofoil and ferry all year) from (ferry in season). from (motorboat in season) Ponza and Ventotene are linked by hydrofoil and ferry services, from Terracina and in the summer also by local transport (ferry all year) connections. In the summer period there are services from Fiumicino (Rome), catamaran, and from Naples, ferry. Contacts offices and general assistance In Latina: -Scauri Via Lungomare 3 Azienda di Promozione Turistica tel. 0771.683788 – fax 0771.620829 della provincia di Latina Terracina Via G.Leopardi Via Duca del Mare 19, Latina tel.0773.727759 – fax 0773.721173 tel. 0773.695404 – fax 0773.661266 www.aptlatinaturismo.it e-mail: [email protected] On the Islands: di Ponza Piazza Pisacane Ufficio Informazioni tel.0771.80108 – fax 0771.809919 Piazza del Popolo (Latina) Comune di Ventotene Piazza Castello 1 tel. 0773.480672 tel. 0771.85014 – fax 0771.85265 In nearby towns: Associazione Pro Loco di Ponza Uffici Informazioni e Molo Musco tel. 0771.80031 Assistenza al Turista (I.A.T.) Associazione Pro Loco di Ventotene Formia Viale Unità d’Italia 30 Via Roma 2 tel. 0771.85257 tel. 0771.771490 – fax 0771.323275 Comunità Arcipelago Isole Ponziane Gaeta Via E.Filiberto 5 Via Roma 10 (Ponza) tel. 0771.461165 – fax 0771.450779 tel. 0771.809893 35 Islands in Nature The Archipelago of the Pontine Islands

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REGIONE LAZIO