Fetovaia - Elba Island - Tuscan archipelago

Fetovaia beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island of Elba which is located on the south-western side of the island. The origin of the name "Fetovaia", testified from the 16th century [1], is controversial: one of the most accredited interpretations would put it in relation to the "stench" produced by the accumulations of Posidonia oceanica on the beach, a very frequent and documented phenomenon on Elba already in the eighteenth century; according to others, the name would come from fetusary land, that is "fertile land", and not from beetle land, as suggested in the past. The beach is protected by a narrow promontory - equipped with a lookout during the Second World War and communicating with a position at the Piane alla Sughera - thickly covered with gorse, holm oaks and tall bushes typical of the Mediterranean scrub. This allows the bay to have calm and suitable water for boats. Behind the beach, towards Monte Capanne, there are narrow and impervious valleys. The vegetation is formed by low plants, typical of the dry Mediterranean environment, due to the south-west orientation and exposure to the libeccio wind. Monte Capanne, hindering part of the cloud disturbances from the north, causes the climate of the south-western side to be drier than the northern side. On the hill above Fetovaia there is the rock formation known as Cote Spaccata In 1825, on a project by Luigi Bettarini, a guard post was built a short distance from the promontory, later transformed into a private home. Behind the beach, along the narrow valley that rises on Monte Capanne, there is a small town in the municipality of Campo nell'Elba.