The Spiaggia dell'Innamorata Photo: stock.adobe.com/Balate Dorin
From our editorial team
A story of love, pain - and perhaps the most romantic stretch of coastline in Tuscany
Tuscany is rich in postcard motifs: rolling hills, cypresses, golden fields. But sometimes, hidden behind this harmonious backdrop, a place tells a completely different story - of passion, despair and a love that was not meant to be. Just like the Spiaggia dell'Innamorata, the "beach of lovers", on the island of Elba.
Around six kilometres south of Capoliveri, one of the oldest villages on the island, lies this long bay with its dark sand, rugged rocks and clear, almost crystalline water. At first glance, it is a place that invites you to dream. At second glance, however, it harbours a story that gets under your skin.
A love that was not allowed to be
The legend that gave this beach its name begins in 1534 - at the time of the pirate raids on the Tyrrhenian coast. It is said that two young people, Lorenzo and Maria, fell madly in love with each other. But Maria's family was against the union. The reasons are not exactly known - perhaps political, perhaps economic, perhaps simply pride. What remains is their decision to meet in secret.
Their retreat: a secluded bay, sheltered from the wind, far away from the everyday life of the villages. But fate had other plans. One day, Lorenzo was killed in a raid by Corsican pirates while waiting for his beloved. She watched the drama from afar and is said to have thrown herself off the cliff into the water, overcome by grief. Around 100 years later, a Spanish nobleman is said to have heard Maria's cries at this spot and even seen the young woman.
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A celebration for the lost
What would have become a silent legend in other regions lives on to this day on Elba. Every year on 14 July, the alleged day of misfortune, the inhabitants of Capoliveri celebrate the Festa dell'Innamorati - the festival of lovers.
In the evening, a procession of torchbearers marches through the village. Women in historical dresses, men with lanterns, children with flowers - they all follow the memory of Mary, who is played by a young woman in a white dress.
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The beach today: between idyll and past
Anyone swimming or snorkelling at the Spiaggia dell'Innamorata today will have no idea of the tragedy at first glance. The beach is around 280 metres long, partly public and partly managed. Bars and small restaurants offer regional cuisine, sunbeds are lined up in rows and parasols provide shade.
Only when you take a closer look - at the Gemini Islands opposite, at the old mining traces in the rocks to the left of the bay - do you realise that there is more here than just sun and sea. It is a place of the past. And if you stay in the early evening hours, you might understand why Maria and Lorenzo chose this particular place for their love.
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