Ustica

Ustica is a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian, fifty-two kilometers north of Capo Gallo, 8. 65 square kilometers of basalt and tuff with two old volcanoes at Punta Maggiore and Guardia dei Turchi just below. The island was used as a place of confinement by the Bourbons, the Savoys, and finally the Fascists: Mussolini banished thousands of political opponents here, often 1,500 at a time, including Antonio Gramsci and Amadeo Bordiga, until the 1950s.

In November 1986, Italian fishermen pushed through the establishment of the first marine protected area in Italy, around 15,000 hectares of sea where diving schools now operate one of the Mediterranean's best-known reserves. The lentils and broad beans of Ustica, grown without pesticides on volcanic soil, are Slow Food Presidia. On 27 June 1980 Itavia Flight 870 was shot down nearby in the sea, the Ustica massacre, killing all 81 on board.