Sailing between the Islands of Tuscany

Earlier this month I spent together with six freinds a week sailing between the Tuscany islands.

The starting point for the trip was Castiglioncello, just south of Livorno. Most of the days the sailing was a little bit poor due the lack of wind, but the trip was great anyway. Our original plans included Bastia in Corsica, but we canceled that since we didn't want to go all the way to Bastia with our diesel engine.

Castiglioncello has a beautiful and quite modern marina. The day we arrived the water had an unbelievable turkish color.

Our first trip led us to the island of Capraia. The island is located on the half way between the Italian mainland and Corsica. Before we planed the sailing trip I didn't even know that there is an island. Capraia has one village which is situated on a hill above the natural harbor. The harbor and the village are conected with the only asphalt street. The harbor is alsmost like the scenery for a pirate movie. We had a great quite traditional meal at the trattoria DOC in the village.

Harbor of Capraia

The next day was the trip to Elba, first stop was Marciana Marina. Another nice village on the northwestern coast of Elba.

Marciana Marina

Still without wind we planed a quite short trip for the next day that led us to Portoferraio, where we stayed in the old harbor which is surrounded by this old city. The harbor was even used at the time of the Etruscan culture.

Portoferraio

Finally with some wind we had a chance for some sailing. the fifth place was Porto Azzuro on the east coast of Elba. Another natural harbor still with some fisherman around. Just another picturesque little town.

Fisherman in Porto Azzurro

For the last evening before we had to return to Castiglioncello we choose a bay to stay on anchor for the night. The bay was called Porto Baratti just north of the industrial city of Piombino. It was a beautiful and quite bay. We took our dinghy for a dinner on the mainland in a quite stylish restaurant we didn't actually expect.

Castiglioncello