A Brief History of capraia and Forte San Giorgio

When human beings first crossed to Capraia from the Italian mainland about 6,000 years ago, they found an island carpeted by thick oak forests. Slowly, painstakingly, they cleared the land for crops, vines and grazing. Their small and isolated settlements of subsistence farmers and fisherfolk remained largely unchanged until the Graeco-Roman era.  

Greek sailors knew the island as the Place of Goats, and its present name may well be an amalgamation of the ancient Greek word for a wild goat, copros, and the Etruscan carpa (‘stone’): in fact, stones and goats neatly sum up the first few thousand years of Capraia’s history.  

In Roman times, an unknown family of considerable wealth built a luxury villa on the side of the Vado del Porto. Capraia’s early resort status did not last long. By the 4th century AD, Roman bourgeoisie had given way to hermits, monks and other early Christians wedded to an ascetic way of life, and by the 5th century we are told that the island was in a ‘mess’. This precarious situation seems to have continued until the Middle Ages, when Capraia came under the rule of Pisa. At the time, the Capraisi were using their own distinctive dialect – Capraiese, a combination of Corsican and Tuscan – which survives today only in place names.

Ownership of Capraia passed from Pisa to Florence and, in 1430, to the great trading city of Genoa, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. The patrician de Mari family were granted lordship over the island, but governed with such harsh arrogance that the Capraisi rose in revolt, demanding to be governed instead by the more understanding Compere di San Giorgio. However, more serious troubles lay ahead.  

In 1506, the locals led by a warrior priest beat off an attack by three Barbary galleys under the command of Kemal Rey. Thirty-four years later, the pirates returned, this time with a fleet of thirteen galleys. They were now led by Barbaresco Dragut, the most feared brigand of his day.

The attack came on Sunday 6 June 1540, beginning with a heavy bombardment that killed 35 men and five women. The pirates then swarmed ashore, burning and looting. Crops, including the precious vines and olive trees, were destroyed, and 165 men and women captured and taken aboard the galleys as slaves. It was the darkest day in the island’s chequered history.

Fortunately, help was at hand. A Genoese fleet under Gianettino Doria had been after Dragut for some time, and it finally caught up with him a few days after the rape of Capraia. Doria seized Dragut’s ships, imprisoned him, and freed the grateful Capraisi.

The experience forced the Genoese authorities to reappraise Capraia’s defences. As the prospect of such a key strategic island falling into enemy hands did not bear thinking about, they determined to rebuild its fortifications. The task was given to Captain Genesio, assisted by 104 soldiers, stonemasons and other craftsmen brought over from Genoa. Surprisingly, they also brought over Genoese stone as they did not consider the local material suitable for castle-building.

The new castle – Castello San Giorgio – was built on the site of the old fortified village and incorporated some of its features, including the ancient church of St Nicholas [?]. Owing to inclement weather and the constant fear of pirate attack, construction took over a year. At the same time, the tower guarding the entrance to the port was rebuilt, and, a few years later, a further defensive tower was added on the remote headland of Zenobita. The new fortifications were armed with guns from Genoa and manned by a Genoese garrison.

Capraia was also incorporated into a sophisticated early-warning system that linked Genoa to the islands of Corsica, Elba, Monte Cristo, and others in the Tuscan archipelago. It involved beacon fires on mountain tops that relayed messages with smoke during the day and flames at night time. Though the fortifications and signals reduced the threat from pirates, the Capraisi were still not completely safe. Marauders weighed anchor in deserted coves from time to time, and in a flash raid of 1553 they managed to seize eight girls and two young men who had been working on the land nearby.

The rest of the Capraia story is quickly told. The island remained under the control of a Genoese Commissioner for another 250 years, paying him 60 bags of corn a year as his feudal due. At the end of the 18th century, the island came under Corsican rule for a while, and in 1796 it was occupied by Admiral Nelson as part of an ill-fated plan for the establishment of an Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.

When things settled down in the 19th century, the island, as part of Genoa, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia (1815). This led to its becoming part of the Kingdon of Italy in 1870. The new government, clearly thinking less of Capraia than the Genoese had done, decided it was fit for only one thing – a gaol. Thus, for over a century, the brightest jewel in Andromeda’s necklace suffered the ignominy of serving as a penal colony. A handful of locals continued to fish and service the needs of a prison that occupied two-thirds of the island, but this was not a happy time.

The sentence was finally lifted in 1986. The fences and cells of penal colony were dismantled and slowly, year by year, the island rediscovered its true nature. The population increased, investment in services and infrastructure grew, and enterprising tourists looking for something exciting and different made their way over by boat from the mainland.

Modern Capraia, the pearl of the Tuscan Archipelago, was born.

Geography and society

The volcanic island of Capraia, some 8 km long and 4 km wide, rests in the Ligurian Sea slightly over half way between the Italian mainland and Corsica. Livorno, the nearest large port, is 62 km to the north-east. The islands of Elba, where Napoleon was imprisoned in 1814, and Monte Cristo, the setting of Alexander Dumas’ celebrated novel, lie to the south-east. For governmental purposes, Capraia is a commune within the province of Livorno in the region Tuscany.

Though just 19 sq kms, with a 30-km coastline, the island rises to a surprising 466 m above sea level at its highest point. Owing to its position, as well as its unique history, flora and fauna, it has been designated a marine sanctuary and is included in the Arcipelago Toscano National Park.

Capraia has no more than 400 permanent inhabitants, most connected to the fishing and tourist industries. Anchovy production flourishes, the enterprising Bollani family recently revived local viniculture, and the annual October squid festival is a memorable highlight of the tourist year. The two centres of population, the port and the village, are linked by the island’s only metalled road. The village has changed little over the years and retains many picturesque features, including several churches.

Since at least the 14th century, Capraia has been famous for its balmy and restorative air. The Genoese sent their sick and injured soldiers there to hasten their recovery, and in 1799 the author of a history of the island noted the same recuperative properties. Today’s tourists, too, often remark how delightfully the sea breeze mixes with the aromatic scent of myrtle, lentisk, and curry plant growing wild on the ancient hillsides.