What is Capoliveri known for?

Three-thousand-year mining history on Monte Calamita, magnetite and hematite worked from Etruscan times to 1980. More coastline than any other comune on Elba, with sand and pebble beaches on all three sides of the southern lobe. Inside the Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscano, the largest marine protected area in the European Mediterranean.

When is the best time to visit Capoliveri?

May–Sep. May through September is the season Capoliveri runs on. The water warms enough to swim from mid-May, the ferries from Piombino run every hour, the beaches at Morcone and Innamorata fill from late June. July and August are crowded everywhere on the island and parking at the southern beaches becomes a small art. October stays warm and largely empty; the mining tours run into November on weekends. November through April is the quiet half of the year. Many restaurants and hotels close from late October until Easter, the ferries thin to a few crossings a day, and the town belongs to the 3,899 residents and the dogs. The Festa dell'Uva in early October fills the piazza for one weekend.

Capoliveri is a comune in the province of Livorno, Tuscany region of Italy, about 146 kilometers from Livorno.

How do I get to Capoliveri?

From Livorno, Capoliveri is roughly 146 km by road.

Tuscany · Livorno

Capoliveri

A medieval hill town on the eastern lobe of Elba, with 35 kilometers of coast below.

Known for

IRON MINES
Three-thousand-year mining history on Monte Calamita, magnetite and hematite worked from Etruscan times to 1980.
35 KM OF COAST
More coastline than any other comune on Elba, with sand and pebble beaches on all three sides of the southern lobe.
TUSCAN ARCHIPELAGO PARK
Inside the Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscano, the largest marine protected area in the European Mediterranean.

When to visit

Best · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Why come

The name comes from Caput Liberum, the Roman head of the free territory. The medieval town that grew up on that ground sits on a terrace and is built into the slope as a maze of narrow alleys called chiassi, opening onto small piazzas rather than any wider square. Below it the southern lobe of Elba unfolds into thirty-five kilometers of coastline, more than any other comune on the island, and the beaches, Innamorata, Morcone, Pareti and Zuccale, are reached by a network of dirt roads off the ridge rather than by a single road along the shore.

The fishermen still go out at four in the morning from the cove at Naregno. What holds the town together is that relation between height and shore: a hill settlement governing a coastline it does not directly touch, with the old mining ground on the mountain behind it folded into the same protected park as the water below.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Capoliveri’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

What to see

Centro storico
Medieval village built into the slope of the mountain, with narrow stepped alleys called chiassi giving onto small piazzas.
Miniere del Calamita
The galleries and open pits sit on the eastern flank of Monte Calamita, now a heritage trail with guided tours through the abandoned works.
Spiaggia dell'Innamorata
Pebble beach on the southern coast, named for a sixteenth-century pair of lovers killed in a pirate raid, commemorated each July.
Spiaggia di Morcone
Sandy crescent on the southeast coast, sheltered, the largest of the Capoliveri beaches.
Punta Calamita
Southern headland of Elba, the panoramic finish of Monte Calamita with views to Pianosa and Montecristo.

The slow-trip planner

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Living here

Population 3,899
Very remotei
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Florence / Pisa, 2 h 26 min drive
Regional capital Firenze, 3 h 11 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

Parco Nazionale

The numbers

Elevation: 167 m
Population: 3,899
Surface area: 39.56 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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