Tremiti Islands

Infobox CityIT
img_coa = IsoleTremiti-Stemma.gif
img_coa_small=yes
official_name = Comune di Isole Tremiti
region = Puglia
province = Foggia (FG)
elevation_m =
area_total_km2 = 3
population_as_of =
population_total = 367
population_density_km2 = 122
timezone = CET, UTC+1
coordinates = coord|42|07|N|15|15|E
frazioni = Isola San Nicola, Isola San Domino
telephone = 0882
postalcode = 71040
gentilic =
saint =
day =
mayor = Giuseppe Calabrese (since May 26, 2003)
website = [http://www.comune.isoletremiti.fg.it/ www.comune.isoletremiti.fg.it] it icon

Tremiti ( _it. Isole Tremiti) is an archipelago of the Adriatic Sea, north of the Gargano Peninsula. It constitutes a "comune" of Italy's Province of Foggia, and forms part of the Gargano national park ("Parco nazionale del Gargano"); the name of the islands is linked to their increased seismic hazard, with a history of earthquakes - the source word "tremolanti" is linked to "tremors".The islands were used for the internment of political prisoners during Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. This was not exactly a novelty: two millennia earlier Augustus had sent his granddaughter Julia the Younger in exile to one of these islands (then named "Trimerus").

The islands are now an important tourist attraction - due to the clear waters surrounding them.

Islands

*San Domino is the most touristically developed island and features the only sand beach in the archipelago.
*San Nicola is the island where the major part of the population resides. It is the site of a monastery where a monk named Nicolò was buried. The legend says that every time someone tried to move his corpse off the island, a violent storm would start, preventing navigation around the island.
*Capraia (or "Capperaia") is deserted, it forms part of the national park.
*Cretaccio is in fact, a major block of clay, and thus uninhabited.
*Pianosa is a small uninhabited island. Its maximum height is 15 meters. Sometimes, during storms, the waves are able to cover it.

Emporer Augustus daughter Julia was banished here for adultury with the poet Virgil.

History

In 1911 about one thousand three hundred Libyans that opposed colonial Italian rule were confined to Tremiti. After one year about one third of these were dead mainly of typhus. In the fascist era, the archipelago continued to perform its function of confinement, detaining among others the future President of the Republic Sandro Pertini and Amerigo Dumini.

Bibliography

* (IT) Gaetano Carducci: "Le Isole Tremiti. Da Colonia di confino a Comune autonomo (1755-1964)", Lulu.com, 2008.
* (IT) Enzo Mancini: "Isole Tremiti, sassi di Diomede: natura, storia, arte, turismo", Milano, Mursia, 1979.

External links

* [http://www.bioversityinternational.org/publications/pgrnewsletter/article.asp?lang=en&id_article=93&id_issue=133] - Collecting landraces and wild relatives in Tremiti Islands (FAO)
* [http://www.leisoletremiti.it Tremiti Island] Information on Tremiti Islands. History, Culture and Tourism.