Gorgona, Italy
Encyclopedia
Gorgona is the northernmost island
in the Tuscan Archipelago
, a group of islands off the west coast of Italy
. Between Corsica
and Livorno
, this diminutive island has been valued most for its wildlife, especially marine birds, and its isolation. The latter quality resulted in the foundation of Gorgona Abbey
in the Middle Ages
. After its closure the monastery grounds and buildings were appropriated in later times as part of an agricultural penal colony, which is currently in use.
. It is a ferry ride of about 1.5 hours; however, access to the island is forbidden without permission from the Italian Ministry of Justice. It grants a standing concession exclusively to one group for supervised tours. Photographic equipment is not allowed. Private boats may approach the island no closer than 500 m (1,640.4 ft) except in emergencies. Capraia
is 35 km (21.7 mi) away; Corsica
, 60 km (37.3 mi).
The only landing place is Cala dello Scalo, an inlet on the northeast side surrounded by cliffs, the site of the only beach. A fishing village over the beach, which flourished before the penal colony, is now all but abandoned. The government has encouraged families who formerly owned land there to sell and move away. A few remain. On the cliff overlooking the bay is a historic site, the Torre Nuova, "new tower", built as a watchtower by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the 17th century.
From the beach an unpaved road leads up to the settlement at the head of a pass between the two prominent heights: Punta Gorgona at 254 metres (833.3 ft) to the south and Punta Zirri at 213 m (698.8 ft) to the north. On the cliffs at the west side of the island on the other side of the pass is the Torre Vecchia, "old tower", built as a watchtower by the Republic of Pisa in the 12th century.
Occupation of the island has been primarily on the steep slopes and terraces of the east coast. A number of monastery and other buildings were constructed there. The prison, which has been structured as a working farm, has taken over or takes responsibility for maintaining this entire region. Prisoners work in agriculture or raise animals or learn whatever building trades are useful to the enterprise. They live in residences rather than in cells. They must be in their homes by nightfall. Interaction with outsiders is controlled or forbidden.
National Park, dating from 1996, with headquarters at Portoferraio, Elba
. Most of the island is in its native state, 90% of it being forested with maquis
, 2 m (6.6 ft) to 5 m (16.4 ft) high.
Among its plant species are Arbutus unedo, Rhamnus (Buckthorn)
, Pistacia lentiscus, Juniperus phoenicea
, Myrtus communis, Erica arborea, Erica scoparia
, Rosmarinus officinalis, Phillyrea angustifolia
, and Phillyrea latifolia
. The flowers in more open country include Lavandula stoechas
, Helichrysum italicum
, Cistus incanus
, Cistus salvifolius
, and Cistus monspeliensis
. Calycotome spinosa and Spartium junceum appear on the slopes. Linaria capraria
is endemic to the archipelago. Evergreens predominate. There are groves of holm-oak, the remnant of a prehistoric forest, and pine woods of Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinea, and Pinus pinaster.
Gorgona is one of only five islands in the world on which the Corsican Finch
is found.
and Capraia
. Pomponius Mela
had mentioned the name earlier (43 BC) but only as an item in a list of the islands in the vicinity.
in describing his voyage of 416 AD in the region says that "Gorgon" rises up in the middle of the sea between the Pisa
n and Cyrniacan (Corsica
n) shores. He had already stated that there were monachoi
, "monks", on Capraia
and now relates the story of an aristocratic youth who had given up wealth, status and the opportunity for marriage to retire to Gorgon in "superstitious exile", implying that monasteries of sorts were already on the two islands.
Tradition holds that monks from Gorgona rescued the relics of Saint Julia of Corsica before they were carried to the mainland in the 8th century.
The monastery was abandoned after its destruction by the Saracen
s. In the 11th century the Republic of Pisa
cleared the Tyrrhenian Sea
of Muslim
s and proceeded against their strongholds in Africa. In 1051, just prior to the Pisan occupation of Corsica, the monastery was reconstituted, still Benedictine, and was declared under papal protection. Subsequently gifts of land were made by aristocrats in Tuscany (where Pisa is located) and northern Corsica. The monastery began to keep land records from Corsica, the first known from there.
Letter 130 of Catherine of Siena
, a Dominican
nun, to Ippolito degli Ubaldini of Florence
encourages him to enter and contribute to the monastery of Gorgona. The letter in stating that the monastery needed to be refurbished to conform to the "rule of the Carthusian Order" implies that it was recently converted to that order. It must have been written after her vision of 1375 and visit to the island then.
Two inscriptions at Pisa Charterhouse at Calci attribute the change of order to the influence of Catherine on Pope Gregory XI
in trying to obtain economic assistance for the Carthusians. The pope made a grant of money and gave the Carthusians Gorgona. The change cast reproach on the Benedictines for their alleged non-monastic way of life. They were asked to leave the island and were banned from it.
Carthusians from Pisa Charterhouse retenanted the monastery under Don Bartholomew Serafini. He promptly invited Catherine to visit. She lodged outside the monastery but was invited to address the monks. She spoke on resisting the temptations of Satan
. The mantle she was asked to leave as a token of the visit placed later in the hands of a young monk tempted to suicide by the death or illness of his mother is said to have removed all temptation, a token, in the church, of her sainthood.
Subsequently the Mediterranean became politically unstable. Fearing an attack by Saracen
corsairs the monks left the island for the charterhouse at Calci in 1425, taking all the records and works of art with them, and never returned. The records were duly published at Pisa
. The island however remained in the ownership of Pisa Charterhouse until the 18th century.
, Grand Duke of Tuscany, purchased Gorgona from the Carthusians of Pisa with the intent of making it part of a plan for economic revival. In March of that year he passed a law opening the island to settlement by fishermen with the proviso that they would catch and cure anchovies and sell them in Livorno
. The fishing village dates to this time.
With the unification of Italy
in 1861, including the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany, ownership of Gorgona passed to the new Kingdom of Italy
. Gorgona became a new and experimental agricultural penal colony in 1869.
. Reservation by the Italian government has reduced all economy to that of the prison.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the Tuscan Archipelago
Tuscan Archipelago
The Tuscan Archipelago is a chain of islands between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, west of Tuscany, Italy.The archipelago contains the islands of Gorgona, Capraia, Elba , Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio, and Giannutri; all of which are protected as part of the Tuscan Archipelago National...
, a group of islands off the west coast of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Between Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
and Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, this diminutive island has been valued most for its wildlife, especially marine birds, and its isolation. The latter quality resulted in the foundation of Gorgona Abbey
Gorgona Abbey
Gorgona Abbey, later Gorgona Charterhouse , was a monastery on the small island of Gorgona in the Mediterranean between Corsica and the coast of Tuscany. It was abandoned in 1425.-Benedictines:...
in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. After its closure the monastery grounds and buildings were appropriated in later times as part of an agricultural penal colony, which is currently in use.
Geography
Gorgona is located about 37 km (23 mi) straight out from LivornoLivorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
. It is a ferry ride of about 1.5 hours; however, access to the island is forbidden without permission from the Italian Ministry of Justice. It grants a standing concession exclusively to one group for supervised tours. Photographic equipment is not allowed. Private boats may approach the island no closer than 500 m (1,640.4 ft) except in emergencies. Capraia
Capraia
Capraia, called Capraria in ancient times, is an island of Italy, part of the Tuscan Archipelago, off the northwest coast; it is also a comune belonging to the Province of Livorno. It is 62 km from the city of Livorno by sea, and 32 km northwest of the island of Elba; it is slightly...
is 35 km (21.7 mi) away; Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
, 60 km (37.3 mi).
The only landing place is Cala dello Scalo, an inlet on the northeast side surrounded by cliffs, the site of the only beach. A fishing village over the beach, which flourished before the penal colony, is now all but abandoned. The government has encouraged families who formerly owned land there to sell and move away. A few remain. On the cliff overlooking the bay is a historic site, the Torre Nuova, "new tower", built as a watchtower by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the 17th century.
From the beach an unpaved road leads up to the settlement at the head of a pass between the two prominent heights: Punta Gorgona at 254 metres (833.3 ft) to the south and Punta Zirri at 213 m (698.8 ft) to the north. On the cliffs at the west side of the island on the other side of the pass is the Torre Vecchia, "old tower", built as a watchtower by the Republic of Pisa in the 12th century.
Occupation of the island has been primarily on the steep slopes and terraces of the east coast. A number of monastery and other buildings were constructed there. The prison, which has been structured as a working farm, has taken over or takes responsibility for maintaining this entire region. Prisoners work in agriculture or raise animals or learn whatever building trades are useful to the enterprise. They live in residences rather than in cells. They must be in their homes by nightfall. Interaction with outsiders is controlled or forbidden.
Ecology
The ecology of Gorgona is under the protection of the Tuscan ArchipelagoTuscan Archipelago
The Tuscan Archipelago is a chain of islands between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, west of Tuscany, Italy.The archipelago contains the islands of Gorgona, Capraia, Elba , Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio, and Giannutri; all of which are protected as part of the Tuscan Archipelago National...
National Park, dating from 1996, with headquarters at Portoferraio, Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. Most of the island is in its native state, 90% of it being forested with maquis
Maquis shrubland
thumb|220px|Low Maquis in Corsica.220px|thumb|High macchia in Sardinia.Maquis or macchia is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs such as holm oak, tree heath, strawberry tree, sage, juniper, buckthorn, spurge olive and myrtle...
, 2 m (6.6 ft) to 5 m (16.4 ft) high.
Among its plant species are Arbutus unedo, Rhamnus (Buckthorn)
Buckthorn
The Buckthorns are a genus of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall , in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae...
, Pistacia lentiscus, Juniperus phoenicea
Juniperus phoenicea
Juniperus phoenicea, the Phoenicean Juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal east to Italy, Turkey and Egypt, south on the mountains of Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and in western Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, and also on Madeira and the Canary...
, Myrtus communis, Erica arborea, Erica scoparia
Erica
Erica ,the heaths or heathers, is a genus of approximately 860 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The English common names "heath" and "heather" are shared by some closely related genera of similar appearance....
, Rosmarinus officinalis, Phillyrea angustifolia
Phillyrea
Phillyrea is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands and Madeira....
, and Phillyrea latifolia
Phillyrea
Phillyrea is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands and Madeira....
. The flowers in more open country include Lavandula stoechas
Lavandula stoechas
Lavandula stoechas occurs naturally in the Mediterranean region.-Description:A perennial shrub, it usually grows to 30–100 cm tall and wide...
, Helichrysum italicum
Helichrysum italicum
Helichrysum italicum or Helichrysum angustifolium is a flowering plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is sometimes called the curry plant because of the strong smell of its leaves. It grows on dry, rocky or sandy ground around the Mediterranean. The stems are woody at the base and can reach...
, Cistus incanus
Cistus
Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species . They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands...
, Cistus salvifolius
Cistus
Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species . They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands...
, and Cistus monspeliensis
Cistus
Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species . They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands...
. Calycotome spinosa and Spartium junceum appear on the slopes. Linaria capraria
Linaria
Linaria is a genus of about 100 species of herbaceous annuals and perennials that was traditionally placed in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. Due to new genetic research, it has now been placed in the vastly expanded family Plantaginaceae...
is endemic to the archipelago. Evergreens predominate. There are groves of holm-oak, the remnant of a prehistoric forest, and pine woods of Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinea, and Pinus pinaster.
Gorgona is one of only five islands in the world on which the Corsican Finch
Corsican Finch
The Corsican Finch is a bird in the finch family, Fringillidae.It was formerly regarded a subspecies of the Citril Finch, but it differs in morphology and vocalizations as well as mtDNA sequence and they are now considered distinct...
is found.
Pagan history
Urgo, believed to be Gorgona, receives brief mention in Pliny, who only states that it is near PianosaPianosa
The small island of Pianosa , about in area, forms part of Italy's Tuscan Archipelago. Its name comes from the Italian pianura . Its highest point stands above sea level. Pianosa is part of the Elba island municipality. On clear days, Elbans see Pianosa as a dark blue line over the lighter blue sea...
and Capraia
Capraia
Capraia, called Capraria in ancient times, is an island of Italy, part of the Tuscan Archipelago, off the northwest coast; it is also a comune belonging to the Province of Livorno. It is 62 km from the city of Livorno by sea, and 32 km northwest of the island of Elba; it is slightly...
. Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera and died c. AD 45.His short work occupies less than one hundred pages of ordinary print. It is laconic in style and deficient in method, but of pure Latinity, and occasionally relieved by pleasing...
had mentioned the name earlier (43 BC) but only as an item in a list of the islands in the vicinity.
Monastic history
Rutilius Claudius NamatianusRutilius Claudius Namatianus
Rutilius Claudius Namatianus was a Roman Imperial poet, notable as the author of a Latin poem, De Reditu Suo, in elegiac metre, describing a coastal voyage from Rome to Gaul in 416...
in describing his voyage of 416 AD in the region says that "Gorgon" rises up in the middle of the sea between the Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
n and Cyrniacan (Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
n) shores. He had already stated that there were monachoi
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, "monks", on Capraia
Capraia
Capraia, called Capraria in ancient times, is an island of Italy, part of the Tuscan Archipelago, off the northwest coast; it is also a comune belonging to the Province of Livorno. It is 62 km from the city of Livorno by sea, and 32 km northwest of the island of Elba; it is slightly...
and now relates the story of an aristocratic youth who had given up wealth, status and the opportunity for marriage to retire to Gorgon in "superstitious exile", implying that monasteries of sorts were already on the two islands.
Tradition holds that monks from Gorgona rescued the relics of Saint Julia of Corsica before they were carried to the mainland in the 8th century.
The monastery was abandoned after its destruction by the Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
s. In the 11th century the Republic of Pisa
Republic of Pisa
The Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...
cleared the Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s and proceeded against their strongholds in Africa. In 1051, just prior to the Pisan occupation of Corsica, the monastery was reconstituted, still Benedictine, and was declared under papal protection. Subsequently gifts of land were made by aristocrats in Tuscany (where Pisa is located) and northern Corsica. The monastery began to keep land records from Corsica, the first known from there.
Letter 130 of Catherine of Siena
Catherine of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D, was a tertiary of the Dominican Order, and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. She was proclaimed a Doctor...
, a Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
nun, to Ippolito degli Ubaldini of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
encourages him to enter and contribute to the monastery of Gorgona. The letter in stating that the monastery needed to be refurbished to conform to the "rule of the Carthusian Order" implies that it was recently converted to that order. It must have been written after her vision of 1375 and visit to the island then.
Two inscriptions at Pisa Charterhouse at Calci attribute the change of order to the influence of Catherine on Pope Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI
Gregory XI was pope from 1370 until his death.-Biography:He was born Pierre Roger de Beaufort, in Maumont, in the modern commune of Rosiers-d'Égletons, Limousin around 1336. He succeeded Pope Urban V in 1370, and was pope until 1378...
in trying to obtain economic assistance for the Carthusians. The pope made a grant of money and gave the Carthusians Gorgona. The change cast reproach on the Benedictines for their alleged non-monastic way of life. They were asked to leave the island and were banned from it.
Carthusians from Pisa Charterhouse retenanted the monastery under Don Bartholomew Serafini. He promptly invited Catherine to visit. She lodged outside the monastery but was invited to address the monks. She spoke on resisting the temptations of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. The mantle she was asked to leave as a token of the visit placed later in the hands of a young monk tempted to suicide by the death or illness of his mother is said to have removed all temptation, a token, in the church, of her sainthood.
Subsequently the Mediterranean became politically unstable. Fearing an attack by Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
corsairs the monks left the island for the charterhouse at Calci in 1425, taking all the records and works of art with them, and never returned. The records were duly published at Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
. The island however remained in the ownership of Pisa Charterhouse until the 18th century.
Modern history
Early in 1771 Peter Leopold ILeopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
, Grand Duke of Tuscany, purchased Gorgona from the Carthusians of Pisa with the intent of making it part of a plan for economic revival. In March of that year he passed a law opening the island to settlement by fishermen with the proviso that they would catch and cure anchovies and sell them in Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
. The fishing village dates to this time.
With the unification of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1861, including the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany, ownership of Gorgona passed to the new Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
. Gorgona became a new and experimental agricultural penal colony in 1869.
Economy
In the nineteenth century the island was famous for its anchoviesAnchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
. Reservation by the Italian government has reduced all economy to that of the prison.