Personal tribute to Marciana Marina - Elba Island -

Marciana Marina is an Italian municipality of 1 953 inhabitants in the province of Livorno and is, by territorial extension, the smallest municipality in Tuscany. Marciana Marina is located on the Island of Elba and is washed by the Ligurian Sea. Each year it hosts the La Tore Isola d'Elba Literary Prize The entrance to the port, whose first stone was laid on September 10, 1911, is the ancient Torre degli Appiani, whose current forms are attributable, based on stylistic and structural typologies, to the second half of the sixteenth century. The first nucleus of the town, called Marina di Marciana or Marciana Marittima, developed in the place called Il Cotone (local term meaning "large boulder", from the Latin accusative cotem) [4] at a natural marina. Not far away was a small swampy area, which was then reclaimed. [5] Later there was a further urban development that gave life to the so-called long neighborhood. In the center, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, there is also the church of Santa Chiara, dating back to 1776. Historic buildings of considerable interest are the Villa Anselmi and the Villa Leonardi (the latter with triple veranda on Tuscan-style columns), dated to the 19th century. During the eighteenth century, due to its port and commercial importance, Marciana Marina was called Little Marseille. From the provincial road that connects Marciana Marina to the hamlet of Procchio you can see the islet called La Paolina. Entitled to Paolina Bonaparte following the tourist expansion in the post-war period (originally the locality was called Castiglioncello), it houses ruins of a Roman construction dating back to a period between the 1st century BC. and the 1st century AD and perhaps belonging to an ancient commercial emporium. Examples of modern architecture after the Second World War are Villa Spinelli (Crocetta), Villa Albertini, Villa Del Balzo and Villa Vannini-Parenti (Bagno).