MAXIMUM HOTEL Elba island Home Apartments Where we are Elba island Information request Where we are Capital and main port of the island, it has about 11,500 inhabitants. City of ancient origins, already known since the times of the Greeks, called Fabricia by the Romans, four centuries after its foundation still retains the ancient Renaissance charm. The mighty walls built in 500 by Cosimo I ° de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who renamed the new fortress city "Cosmopoli", represent a work of high engineering and extraordinary architectural beauty. Those arriving by ferry hardly remain impassive to the particular beauty offered by the dock, at the entrance of which there is the Martello tower belonging to the Linguella fortress, also called the Passanante tower, after that, in the period in which the fortified nucleus was used in penal bath, the bomber who wounded King Umberto I, from whom it took its name, was imprisoned. Inside the Linguella complex you can also visit an interesting archaeological museum, where amphorae and artifacts dating back to the Etruscan era are exhibited. Above the historic center is the Forte Stella, so named for the characteristic star shape of its walls, built in 1548 to a design by Camerini, it houses one of the oldest lighthouses in Europe, built by Grand Duke Leopoldo of Lorraine in 1788. Here beyond than enjoying an excellent panoramic position of the Portoferraio dock, you can admire from above the building of the Mills, the winter residence of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Despite his brief period of exile spent on the island, (he remained on the island only 10 months) Napoleon left a remarkable cultural and historical heritage on Elba. In addition to the works preserved in the villa dei Mulini, in that of San Martino and in the Demidoff museum, where you can admire fine furnishings, works of art of great value, imperial friezes as well as the extraordinary collection of over 1000 volumes coming directly from Fontainebleau and the flag with the three golden bees, symbol of the industriousness of the Elban, Napoleon created important works including a theater and some of the main arteries of Elba. Il forte Falcone situato nel punto più alto della città, con i suoi bastioni, rappresenta senza dubbio la fortificazione medicea più possente esistente sull'isola. A dimostrazione della sua capacità difensiva, seppe resistere agli innumerevoli attacchi dei saraceni, al contrario delle fortezze di Capoliveri, Rio e Marciana più volte devastate dalle sanguinose incursioni dei pirati. Visitando il centro storico di Portoferraio, cuore dell'antica Cosmopoli, si possono scoprire, oltre che ad alcuni interessanti monumenti storici e luoghi sacri, strette e tortuose stradine a scalinata che si aprono a piazzette panoramiche, vecchie case con balconi fioriti e suggestivi angoli dove si possono incontrare personaggi locali pronti a raccontare aneddoti e curiosità sulla vita dell'isola. Beaches: To the east: Bagnaia (sand and gravel), Magazzini (gravel), Ottone (sand and gravel), Schiopparello (gravel). To the west: Acquaviva (gravel), Biodola (sand), Capo Bianco (gravel), Enfola (gravel sand), Forno (sand), le Ghiaie (ovoid pebbles), Padulella (gravel), Scaglieri (sand), Seccione ( gravel), the Viste (sand and gravel), Viticcio (sand and gravel), Prunini (sand and gravel). Other places of historical and cultural interest: Reverenda Misericordia Church, Foresiana Picture Gallery, Vigilanti Theater, Villa Romana delle Grotte, Santo Stefano alle Trane. HOTEL MASSIMO IS CLOSED The surfaces will be converted into apartments. Contacts CAT spa Via Calata Italia, 23 57037 Portoferraio (LI) Elba Island Riccardo Gasparri Tel. +39.338.2876231 Email: info@elbahotelmassimo.it CAT spa - Via Calata Italia, 23 - 57037 Portoferraio (LI) Elba Island Riccardo Gasparri : Tel. +39.338.2876231 - Email: info@elbahotelmassimo.it