Wild, hilly and barely inhabited, Capraia is the only volcanic island in the Tuscan Archipelago. On the west, sheer walls of rock are cracked into ravines and riddled with caves: to the east the terrain slopes in a series of shallow valleys down to the sea.

People live either in the port , roud a little bay, or in the village that sits on top of the nearby promontory. The rest of the island is covered in brush, with a few small villas and old farm buildings used briefly in summer. Humming insects follow the scent of wild herbs and flowers, but the ragged shrubs and trees can’t hide the many poignant reminders of Capraia’s turbulent past.

Nature has largely reclaimed Capraia, and most the Island, and the sea for miles around it, is part of a huge National Park and Marine Reserve.

There’s not nighlife, no neon and no marketing scam to exploit the pristine Mediterranean flora and fauna.

For visitors, the symbiosis of land, sea and people is like stumbling on a blueprint of how you want the Mediterranean to be: itself.

Yachts for Charter in Capraia