The Island of Ponza & the Arcipelago Pontino: History & Attractions
Ponza: A Rustic Retreat
Ponza’s jagged coastline is a mosaic of multicolored volcanic rock cliffs
and, although there are few physical reminders of its history, Ponza may have
been home to an ancient Phoenician settlement. Later colonized by the Romans,
the island of Ponza is the most enchanting and popular of the Pontine Islands.
This divine spot has a particularly healthy climate thanks to the iodine-rich
breezes rising from the crystal clear sea and blending with the sun’s
rays. The picturesque rocky shores are dramatically peppered with caves, grottoes
and steep offshore crags.
The landscape is also dotted with bays and enticing little beaches, the most
famous being Chiaia di Luna where the sparkling waters are some of the clearest
and most frequented by swimmers and sun worshippers alike. Delightfully laid
out like an amphitheatre around the 18th century harbor, the seaside resort
town of Ponza draws initiates as well as novices to its charming hotels, small
shops and exceptional restaurants, which many visitors are convinced serve
some of the finest seafood in Italy.
Ponza can best be savored by circumnavigation, but if you have never sailed
a boat before don’t worry, as there are plenty to be had for hire.
Starting from the harbor and coasting southward along Donna Promontory you
come to Pilatus’ Caves, where legend has it Pontius Pilate (yes, he of
the Book) raised delectable moray eels, a delicacy highly savored by the ancient
Romans. The picturesque ruins of a Roman villa ornament the craggy cliffs just
a short distance away.Continuing south are the so-called Madonna Cliffs, Ulysses’ Cave
and the impressive Guardia Promontory.
The beach at Chiaia di Luna is located behind the lower Fieno Point where an
ancient tunnel cut from the soft volcanic rock connects the village to the
beach. From Punta del Papa (Pope’s Point), named for Pope Silverio the
patron saint of Ponza, who was exiled and starved to death here in 537 AD,
the coastline becomes more and more irregular. The eastern side offers suggestive
seascape views including the natural stone arch called “Spaccapolpi” and
the majestic Inferno and Core Coves.
Ventotene: Prison & Paradise
PONZA - Fisherman’s hideout From Ponza, it is very easy to sail over
to Ventotene for a visit. This curious little island was founded around
300 BC as Roman colony and it was they who built the magnificent harbour at Pertuso
Point, which greets you upon your arrival. For those seeking a laid back getaway
from their hectic everyday lives, this sleepy refuge is rich with charms such
as tiny fishing villages, sparkling waters and an unspoiled landscape.
Life on Ventotene is slow-paced and a bit self-indulgent and, although
it may seem like paradise, this serene island has had a somewhat strange
and turbulent history.
It's long story as a prison island began in the first century when it became
a gilded cage where outcast female members of the dysfunctional Julio-Claudian
dynasty were sent to live out their final days. The Emperor Augustus, who often
vacationed on nearby Ponza, exiled his wanton daughter Julia here because of
her scandalous and immoral behavior (she allegedly slept with dozens, if not
hundreds of high-ranking Roman men). As an unwilling "tourist”,
Julia lived in a vast luxurious villa on the isolated Eolo Point (named for
the God of the Winds), cut off from both the harbor and the town by a small valley,
which no local was allowed to cross on pain of death. Julia remained captive
on the island for over ten years until she died in 14 AD, but, in spite of this
enforced isolation, apparently continued her licentious way of life as evidenced
by the rumor that she gave birth to a child while in captivity.
A succession of high-ranking imperial women charged with immorality followed,Nero's
sterile twenty-year-old wife, and at the end of the century, Flavia Domitilla
who was accused of being a Christian and sent to the island where she suffered
her saintly martyrdom. The nickname Utopia Island is not commonly known or often remembered. It
was the result of an odd experiment carried out by Ferdinand IV of Naples
to test Jean-Jacques Rousseau's theory that the environment negatively
affects a persons behavior and, if placed in unspoiled surroundings, bad
people will revert to their inherent goodness.
In 1768, some 400 hardened criminals and prostitutes were sent to Ventotene,
which was virtually uninhabited and seemed to Ferdinand the ideal setting
for an environmental experiment including Agrippina (wife of Germanicus and
mother of Caligula), Octavia, Needless to say the scheme failed because it
wasn’t long before a brothel was set up, and crime, riots and intrigues
became so rife that the nearby Bishop of Gaeta was forced to intervene. In
1771 the King ordered the evacuation of his guinea pigs and then promptly
abandoned both theory and experiment with a heavy sigh of relief. But that
wasn’t the end of the island’s bizarre penal history because
in 1939, during the Fascist era, the “colony of political confinement”,
was transferred to Ventotene from nearby Ponza.When Fascism was defeated in 1943, 833 political prisoners were released
from the island.
Most visitors to the island today however, instead of feeling imprisoned,
feel liberated by its easy-going atmosphere
and consider it as something of a sanctuary. Jutting out on the right as
you sail into the harbor is Eolo Point where the crags in the cliffs conjure
up fantastic geometrical shapes and are crowned by the Villa Julia. This
is the main Roman complex of the archipelago, although little remains intact
due to centuries of excavations and spoliation. To the left are Pertuso Point
and the splendid Roman harbor whose quays are lined with tufa arches, used
as storage sheds. In the cliffs, where the land stretches towards the sea,
further evidence of Roman ingenuity can be seen in the remains of the ancient
fish market and moray eel tanks, similar to those to be seen on Ponza.
The architecture of the charming little town of Ventotene, with its pink and
white houses, is typically Neopolitan and most of the buildings date from
the 18th century, like the castle, the town hall and the Church of St Candida,
patron saint of the town. The rest of the island has many pleasant surprises
in store as well, and a walk around it is certainly worth the effort. Starting
at Eolo Point, you can stroll along a path that will lead you to the little
beach of Cala Rossano, with its caves and tiny harbor and, a bit further,
to the ancient Roman harbor. If you wish to explore the countryside you will
find trees heavy in season with apricots, figs, plums and peaches mingled
with wild fennel, cabbage, artemisia and a myriad of colorful and intoxicating
flowers. Occasionally interspersed are fields of the famous green Ventotene
lentils, beans, peas, potatoes and citrus fruits. In spring the island is
a haven for bird-watchers. Whinchats and hoopoes, stonechats and turtledoves,
quails and redtails, and a host of others hover over ploughed furrows, perch
on branches, or chase butterflies. Looking out from the harbor of you can
see the small, low-lying islet of Santo Stefano, a kind of Italian Chateau
d’If. It was on this rock that Ferdinand IV had a prison built in 1795
by Major Antonio Winspeare who built many structures here as well as on Ponza,
and who later died there as a prisoner.
Built around a circular courtyard,
the prison was intended to reproduce the circles of Dante’s Inferno,
another of Ferdinand’s brilliant ideas. Prison inmates included men
like Luigi Settembrini, who spent ten years there, the anarchist Mariani,
who threw a bomb in Milan’s Teatro Diana, Gaetano Bresci, who assassinated
Umberto I and who was thrown into the sea after “committing suicide”,
and the ubiquitous Pertini. The prison was closed down in 1965 and since
then has enjoyed the peace and quiet that visitors to these islands now cherish
today.
