Napoleon Bonaparte's exile on the Island of Elba

The Island of Elba is world famous not only because of its crystal clear sea, or the colours of its nature or the richness of its minerals, but also thanks to a great name: NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

After the appalling battle of Lipsia, then the treaty of Fontainbleau, Napoleon, up till then the Emperor of all of Europe, is forced to abdicate from the French throne and accept a totally different type of "empire": the Island of Elba.

Correct, because, contrary to what most people think, Napoleon wasn't "imprisoned" in Elba: he chose the island for his exile and during his reign brought about more changes than any other leader before him. For the first time in centuries, the Island of Elba was united under one flag (the only time, in fact, that it was united: today it is still divided into 8 communes), and for the first time, after years of battles and having to move from one place to another, Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to come to a stop and govern a territory whose inhabitants would have remembered him forever

This part wishes to briefly relive the ten months of Napoleon's stay in Elba by going back to the symbolic places of his exile, the less known aspects of his private life and some anecdotes told by Sandro Foresi (S. Foresi, Napoleon poor man, 1941).

In 2014, the Bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte's exile was held on the Island of Elba with many [page id="557"]special events and historical commemorations/page].