From the ruins of a former Roman villa in the wide Bay of Portoferraio, I gaze at the Monte Capanne mountain range, Elba’s highest peak and an excellent hiking area, bathed in golden evening light. The transmission masts can be seen on the summit, while the striking Monte Giove rises to the right.
Halfway between Portoferraio and Marina di Campo lies Procchio Bay, with the town of the same name. After the turn-off for Biodola, the winding road snakes over a pass, where it soon opens up to this fantastic panorama. Behind the bay, the Monte Capanne mountain range rises up.
The island of Elba offers an appealing mountain tour with short sections of easy scrambling, via the route over Le Calanche to Monte Capanne. The path is secured with ropes in a few places and is marked as a Via Ferrata in the Kompass hiking map, which doesn’t quite match the nature of the tour. Nevertheless, only experienced hikers should attempt it. The picnic area on Monte Perone, which is crossed by the scenic road from Campo nell’ Elba to Poggio, makes an ideal starting point for a half-day tour. The tour can also be included as a variation of the entire island crossing GTE, as a traverse of the entire massif, or as a round trip with longer ascents from Poggio. Read more
At the north-western tip of Elba, the steep slopes of the often cloud-shrouded Monte Capanne meet the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea at Sant’ Andrea with a dramatic rocky coastline. The road leads through lush vegetation past numerous holiday flats to a small bay with an inviting bar next to a small sandy beach. To the east, a path leads over cliffs and rocky swimming spots to the somewhat hidden, tiny Cotoncello sandy beach – which is usually overcrowded in the summer season. In the other direction, a path leads to the extensive swimming rocks of Cape Sant’Andrea.
Perched 350 m above the Tyrrhenian Sea, the idyllic mountain village of Poggio sits on the northern slopes of Monte Capanne and overlooks the north coast of Elba from Sant’Andrea across Marciana Alta and Marina all the way to Portoferraio. Poggio can only be reached via narrow, winding roads and is surrounded by sweet chestnut and oak forests. Read more
The northern mountain slopes of Monte Capanne on Elba are covered in dense forest; here you can often still find centuries-old sweet chestnut trees, holm, cork or downy oaks, ash trees as well as species of pine and stone pine. Driving along the road from San Giovanni to Poggio, you pass through Elba’s numerous vegetation zones and cross the pass between Monte Capanne and Monte Perone, where many hiking trails begin, e.g. to the summit of Monte Capanne via the rocks of Le Calanche.
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