The smallest island of the entire Tuscan Archipelago to the west of Leghorn, it has 300 inhabitants (for most of the prisoners) and is little more than 2 square km in area, for the most part occupied by the prison. From rocky nature, it reaches 225 meters above sea level and is covered in prevalence of Mediterranean maquis. It is possible to visit the island (where visitors can moor a boat just in case of danger) normal every Thursday for months farmhouses and small groups which are taken by a motor boat of the ferry service from Livorno Capraia and Elba.
The Tour is organized by the Cooperative Nature Park, the key points most evocative scores, including Cala Scirocco and Cala Martina, and you can visit the areas covered by the Mediterranean scrub that provide shelter for wild rabbits, gulls, swallows sea and birds of passage. What catches the eye is the cover: the 90% of the island in fact a kind of Mediterranean maquis, with woodland areas, and housing (according to recent studies) more than 400 floral species.
The transparent waters around the island is remarkable because of the meager supply of human contamination. The sea surrounding the island is closed to tourism and thus the boats, yet the meager human presence has enabled the maintenance of clean water and minimal pollution. It also allows the proliferation of marine species that are particularly sensitive.
The island of Gorgona, the former Urgon may be inhabited by the Etruscans and Romans certainly, (this is testified by the remains of a building in Piano dei Morti), it was inhabited during the Middle Ages by monks and saw the birth of monasteries in the work of the Benedictines and Cistercians. King Desiderio brought the island to the body of Brescia San Giulia, three centuries before martyred in Corsica. In 1283, the island was property of Pisa which built the old tower and later in 1406 was occupied by the Medicis who we should works of fortification.
The island was therefore once again to the Benedictines who kept it until 1777 when the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo bought the island and tried to restock, but never get there. In 1869 it was finally transformed into an agricultural penal colony.
The Gorgona rich green, covered with pines, which peindrent an extraordinary contrast with the azure sea, and form a charming landscape at the same time bitter and sweet. The Cooperative Nature Park “Isola di Gorgona” organizes excursions on the island and is only authorized by the Ministry of Grace and Justice. The Lipu by the cooperative to organize its own excursions at Gorgona.
It must provide at least 15 days prior to the Directorate of Prison alerts on identity documents of each tourist. The Lipu and take care of the formalities, and ask the participants the necessary elements to be transmitted to the authorities. The prison has the right to defend access to unwanted those with previous criminal, who are on probation or who are “known” by the judicial authorities in response to individual offenses.
