Sant'Andrea, Island of Elba

Sant’Andrea is at the foot of Monte Capanne in the north western part of Elba. It is a well known tourist resort, where in the past only local fishermen and farmers lived, and it used to be little more than a dock for the boats that came from the mainland to collect wine.

Over the years it is much bigger and has many more buildings due to the many hotels and holiday homes for tourists that have been built, so what used to be a tiny, sea town is today an attractive tourist resort that is very popular among those who wish to relax and are in search of a new lease of life on a holiday by the sea. Here you can find all the facilities you need for a very pleasant holiday: a grocer's, shops, bars, restaurants, pizzerias and almost every type of tourist accommodation.

The town of Sant'Andrea is sometimes called a "tiny island within an island" by the locals because, thanks to its unique beauty, it is not like any other town in Elba; here you have a combination of sea and mountains, beaches and cliffs, a wide variety of flora and fauna, all closed inside a tiny treasure chest.

The very fine-grain, sandy beach is surrounded by magnificent cliffs. To the right of the beach, if you walk along a very scenic walkway that has been carved out in the rocks, you will get to the tiny beach of Cotoncello that is absolutely enchanting if you want to go sunbathing. To the left, on the other hand, you go towards the Cote Piane, huge granite cliffs with round peaks that go right down to the water's edge and give it the typical blue colour.

All around you can see and smell the highly scented and very colourful lush, Mediterranean bush: rosemary, broom, heather, rock rose and fields of fuchsia coloured Hottentot figs.

Sant'Andrea is perfect if you want to do sea sports like canoe sailing, doing snorkelling, going diving, and also for land sports, because, since it is one of the most mountainous areas on the Island of Elba there are many paths and mule tracks that go along old terracings of past vineyards, through Mediterranean bush and across centuties old chestnut woods and take you to the towns on the western side.

Whether you go on mountain bike or on foot you will get the chance to find yourself in the heart of a totally incredible, pristine environment full of many different types of fauna and flora and at the same time come across old "caprili" (granite goat shelters) or the remains of some prehistoric settlement where many unexpected panoramas will suddenly open up before your very eyes.