The communes and towns on the Island of Elba

Administration of Elba and its seven Communes

It may seem strange, but the Island of Elba, despite having an area of only 223.50 km², is divided into seven municipalities (it was eight until 2017).

This serves as a reminder that until recently, Elba was a collection of extremely different and disconnected towns, so much so that over time, they developed entirely different customs, traditions, and economies. Just think about towns located just a few kilometers apart, like San Piero and Marciana, for example, which based their livelihoods on completely different economies: the first on granite extraction, the second, located in a typically mountainous area rich in chestnut trees, has always relied on the fruits of the land, wood, and pastoralism; or the huge differences between Rio Marina, a mining town, Porto Azzurro, a Spanish outpost, and Portoferraio, a city-principality that welcomed among its walls Cosimo de' Medici and Napoleon.

Curiosity: the differences between the towns of Elba can be observed not only in the customs and the preparation of typical dishes but also in the dialect, which varies depending on the area: while the Portoferraio dialect has predominantly Tuscan influences, the Pomontino dialect has lexical similarities with Corsican, and the Rio dialect seems closer to Spanish. These varieties add value to an island that never gets tiring!

Some Curiosities

The Island of Elba has about 32,000 inhabitants, of which 12,000 live in the municipality of Portoferraio.
In terms of area, the largest municipality is Portoferraio, while the smallest is Marciana Marina with its 5.86 km².
The island of Pianosa belongs to the municipality of Campo nell'Elba, while Montecristo is part of the municipality of Portoferraio.
The largest beach on the Island of Elba is located in Marina di Campo, while the Bagnaia beach is disputed between Portoferraio and Rio nell'Elba.
Napoleon Bonaparte was the first to unify the municipalities of the Island of Elba under one flag.
In February 2011, at the initiative of the Island of Elba's Category Associations, the Committee for the Regional Law Popular Initiative was established for the merger of the eight municipalities existing on the Island of Elba. After collecting the signatures and confirming the quorum for the consultation, the consultative referendum took place on April 21 and 22, 2013. However, the proposed law was rejected with 60.35% of the votes.
In 2017, the mayors of Rio Marina and Rio nell'Elba started the process to merge the two municipalities. After a popular referendum and approval by the Region, on January 1, 2018, the Municipality of Rio was officially born.