Capraia Isola

The island is the northernmost of seven, sitting apart from Elba and Giglio to its south. It carries one village and one harbor, and beyond a few service vehicles there are no cars. The volcanic plateau rises above the settlement, holding the freshwater lake at its center, the only one of its kind among the archipelago's islands, while the coast runs down to the red cliffs on the western side and out to the abandoned signal station at the southern tip.

The fort above the harbor stood guard for two centuries before the island's later history turned inward: the penal colony took two thirds of the land from 1873, pushed out most residents, and left its buildings to scrub after 1986, the same year its fences and cells came down. Ten years later the park absorbed the island whole, water and land together. The comune now counts 370 residents, the least-populated Italian municipality with an outlet to the sea. What was built to confine the island then opened it: a fortress, a prison, and now a park have each in turn defined how much of Capraia belongs to the few who live there and how much is held in trust for everyone else.

Capraia Isola is on an island and is reached by ferry.