Elba - Abbracciamoli Pro Swim Race

Six and a half nautical miles of open water link Spiaggia delle Ghiaie to the historic watchtower of Marciana Marina. This channel sets the stage for the Elba - Abbracciamoli Pro Swim Race, an open water swimming race held in the sea off Marciana Marina on Isola d'Elba in Tuscany. The event is organized by the association Abbracciamoli APS and brings swimmers to compete along this sweeping island shoreline. Swimmers can take on individual courses spanning 400, 1,000, 4,000, 6,000, and 12,000 meters. The inspiration for the competition began on November 11, 2017, when seven swimmers from Lombardy and Veneto set out from the Gulf of Procchio to Spiaggia delle Ghiaie in search of a legendary golden fleece.

That spirited voyage laid the foundation for the race, which takes its name from the 6.47 nautical miles dividing Portoferraio from Marciana Marina. Today, the longest distance is the 12 km course setting off from Spiaggia delle Ghiaie. In a past edition, both the 12 km and 6 km routes followed the official path along the coast from Ghiaie beach to Capo Enfola and onward to Marciana Marina, taking competitors across coastal passages and open sea. Swimmers looking for intermediate challenges have dedicated departure points along the westward route. The 6 km medium course launches from the waters just off Spiaggia dell’Enfola. The 4 km short course begins in the waters fronting Spiaggia della Paolina.

Marciana Marina hosts a 1 km relay and a 400-meter Abbracciakids swim, both starting and finishing in the town's bay. In addition, the event features combined race formats known as 647 full, 647 middle, and one third. The races take place in October. In a past edition, participants encountered water temperatures between 20 and 21 degrees Celsius on a day that felt more like spring than autumn.

Spiaggia delle Ghiaie and the Scoglietto marine reserve

The race takes place in the waters between Spiaggia delle Ghiaie, where the Argonauts are said to have landed, and Marciana Marina. Classical myth recounts that the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba among them, originated from a necklace lost by the goddess Venus as she emerged from the Tyrrhenian Sea. The underlying geology reveals an ancient connection to the continent: during the last glaciation, the sea level fell by 100 metres, turning Elba into a peninsula linked to both the mainland and Pianosa. About ten kilometres from the race area, the Scoglietto di Portoferraio has been protected as a marine area since 1971 and features an active lighthouse.

The open waters surrounding the Tuscan Archipelago support an array of marine life, including fin and sperm whales. Designated as an Important Bird Area, the archipelago shelters breeding populations of Audouin's gulls, Scopoli's shearwaters, and peregrine falcons. On Elba's beaches, loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) occasionally come ashore to nest, with a documented laying of 103 eggs at Marina di Campo in August 2017. The Mediterranean monk seal, once an inhabitant of these waters, is no longer found around the island today. Off the south of the island, the Battle of Elba was fought on August 28, 1652, between the islands of Montecristo and Elba.

During the clash, the English warship Phoenix was captured by the Dutch vessel Jaarsveld. Following the battle, the remaining English warships retreated to the port of Porto Longone. Four English merchant vessels traveling in the convoy also sought refuge independently at Porto Longone. Two months later, English sailors daringly recovered the Phoenix during a night raid at Livorno. Across on Elba's eastern coast, hematite deposits once formed one of the largest iron reserves in the ancient Mediterranean. That stretch is known as the Costa che brilla, where former iron mines impart striking colors and a bright sheen to the shoreline beaches.

Capo Enfola: the porphyry headland, La Nave, and the sunken amphorae

Midway along the marathon swim, swimmers pass Enfola, a 135-meter-high porphyritic granite promontory that juts out prominently along Elba's northern shore. Just off the headland's outer tip rises the isolated sea stack known as La Nave, separated from the cape by a narrow passage called Il Reciso. Beneath the waves around the promontory, underwater archaeological investigations have uncovered ancient relics, including two lead anchor stocks and two Roman amphorae classified as Dressel 1A and Dressel 20 types. Human trade and nature have coexisted along the headland for centuries. On the narrow isthmus of Enfola, a traditional tuna fishery, or tonnara, operated from the seventeenth century until it finally ceased operations in 1959.

Along the sea cliffs, the Grotta del Bove marino historically provided a sheltered breeding cavern for the Mediterranean monk seal. Above the waterline, twentieth-century military history remains etched into the cape, where a naval battery built between the two World Wars became a strategic target during the Allied landings of Operation Brassard in 1944.

Marciana Marina: the Medicean tower and the seafront of Il Cotone

Torre Medicea is a solid watchtower built to protect Marciana Marina against pirate raids. The open roadstead has witnessed dramatic weather in the past, including a large waterspout recorded on August 18, 1979, in the sea directly in front of the town. After their swim in a past edition, competitors gathered for refreshments at Hotel Marinella. Around Sant'Andrea, the shore is sculpted with monzogranitic rock formations called Cote Piane. Two sea caves indent the cape here, the Grotta del Papa and the Grotta dell'acqua dentro. At the western end of the Cadicarletto inlet stood Il Papa, a monzogranite rock formation documented by name since 1840, which was destroyed by a violent mistral storm in December 1980.

Off Capo di Sant'Andrea, underwater archaeologists have located two Roman shipwrecks dating to the 1st century BC. These same waters saw historic warfare on July 13, 1162, when a naval battle occurred between Pisans and Genoese. Farther out along Elba's north-western shoreline lie the Formiche della Zanca, a cluster of small islets and emerging rocks resting in the waters between the south-eastern Ligurian Sea and the Corsica Channel, protected within the Arcipelago Toscano National Park. The beach of Cavoli offers another window into Elba's stone heritage, with a sandy seabed created by the erosion of monzogranite. Cavoli's sheltered bay is exposed only to south-westerly currents, with the Grotta Azzurra located about 600 meters away.