Elba Island 12 1/2 franca 2014

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Elba Island 12 1/2 franca 2014
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Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, 20 kilometres from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, and the third largest island in Italy, after Sicily and Sardinia. It is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 50 kilometres east of the French island of Corsica.

The island is divided into eight municipalities and is part of the province of Livorno, with a total of about 30,000 inhabitants, which increases considerably during the summer.

Originally inhabited by Ligures Ilvati who gave the ancient name Ilva, the island was well known from very ancient times for its iron resources and its valued mines.

The island was invaded by the Etruscans and later (after 480 BC) by the Romans. In the early 11th century it became a possession of the Republic of Pisa. When the latter was sold to the Visconti of Milan in 1398, the island was acquired by the Appiani, Lords of Piombino, who retained it for two centuries.

In 1544 the Barbary pirates from North Africa devastated Elba and the coasts of Tuscany. In 1546 part of the island was handed over to Cosimo I de' Medici, who fortified Portoferraio and renamed it "Cosmopoli", while in 1577 the rest of the island was returned to the Appiani. In 1596 Philip II of Spain captured Porto Azzurro and had two fortresses built there. In 1802 the island became a French possession, and its economy flourished.

Following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, French emperor Napoleon I was exiled to Elba after his forced abdication in 1814 and arrived at Portoferraio on May 3, 1814 to begin his exile there. He was allowed to keep a personal guard of six hundred men. Although he was nominally sovereign of Elba, the island was patrolled by the British Royal Navy.

During the months Napoleon stayed on the island, he carried out a series of economic and social reforms to improve the quality of life, partly to pass the time and partly out of a genuine concern for the well-being of the islanders. Napoleon stayed on Elba for 300 days. He returned to France on February 26, 1815 for the Hundred Days. After his defeat at Waterloo he was subsequently exiled again, this time to the barren and isolated South Atlantic island of Saint Helena.

In the Congress of Vienna the island was given to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1860 it became part of the new unified Kingdom of Italy.

Elba was liberated from the Germans by the French 1er Corps d'Armée on June 17, 1944 in Opération Brassard. Faulty intelligence and strong defences made the battle more difficult than expected.

More recently, the island has become famed for its wine, and it is today a noted tourist resort.

 

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