GO ITALY:Within days of arriving in Cavo, in the northeast of Elba, ANDY DEVANEwas being greeted by locals everywhere he went
THOSE ARRIVING into Cavo’s harbour will be struck first by the one kilometre stretch of dazzling white pebble beach. Once on terra firma, the next thing you notice is the compact size of the north-east coast village, which consists of tiny side streets off a promenade with picturesque views of yachts bobbing in the bay and a misty mainland Italy in the distance.
My fiancée Anna and I made the pleasant half-hour ferry journey here from the port of Piombino to Elba, which sits between Tuscany and Corsica.
As we ventured “downtown” I wondered if Cavo could keep us entertained for three days but we quickly realised that, rather than being anonymous tourists in a sprawling town or city, we were the guests of a seaside village. And that made all the difference.
Within hours we began recognising people, and in turn were saluted across the street, waved at on the beach and beeped at from cars.
Indeed we inadvertently ingratiated ourselves while buying stamps for postcards. After realising that we had been undercharged by half, we returned to refund the astonished but grateful tobacconist who, along with his shop full of curious onlookers, wanted to know what planet we came from.
" Irlanda," we said which provided much merriment. "Our English teacher is from Dublin! He is living on the island for the summer."
We spent the next few days trying to spot an Irish-looking teacher, without luck, and every time we passed our friends perched outside the tobacconist we were greeted with a cheery chorus of “good mornings” or “good evenings”.
Equally unexpected was the response of Valeria, our waitress in the pizzeria, whose eyes lit up when she heard we were Irish: “I worked for a year in Kilmore Quay!”
The lack of foreign tourists was noticeable as the majority of those on holiday were Italian, many with their families.
Cavo has its own sailing school as well as plenty of water sports such as windsurfing and diving, and the swimming is divine (although Elba is surrounded by various channels including the Ligurian Sea, the waters around the island are traditionally referred to as the “Tyrrhenian Sea”.)
Nowhere is the village's family friendly atmosphere more evident than in Bellariva, a fish restaurant on the promenade. In addition to serving delicious seafood under the stars, it offers kids of all ages the chance to go on stage and join in an X Factortype of all-singing-all-dancing extravaganza, while their parents can either gaze on in admiration or enjoy the rest of their meal in peace.
This is followed with tango sessions, when it is the turn of the children to resume their seats and pretend not to be related to their gyrating parents and grandparents.
As Italians are generally not noted for their bashful nature, it is little wonder that by the end of the night the restaurant’s dance floor is jammed to capacity with young and old.
While Cavo appears to be a bustling place, and despite regional tourism authorities forecasting a higher growth for Tuscany (which Elba is a part of) than the national average in 2011, when asked about this year’s trade the village’s shopkeepers cease smiling.
The owner of Hotel Ginevra, Pio Laurenzi, whose face has such a twinkly eyed-honesty that you would happily entrust him with your life savings, told me that business is down as a result of the crisi.
“On Cavo the tourist season starts in April and ends in early October. This year the situation is worse than last year, with a large fall-off in visitor numbers. In general I think the whole island is experiencing a decline in tourism, probably like most of our domestic resorts. Bookings for the coming months are slow, but we have faith.”
The third largest Italian island after Sicily and Sardinia, over the centuries Elba has had its fair share of invasions, from Etruscans, Romans and Saracens, all of whom left their mark in one way or another. But the island is most famously associated with a Frenchman: Emperor Napoleon was exiled here in 1814 and, during his 300-day stay, introduced a raft of economic, infrastructural and social reforms.
His sojourn also prompted what is possibly the English language’s most-well known palindrome, “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”
We took a day trip by boat to see where he landed, in the nearby capital, Portoferraio. Founded in 1548 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo de’ Medici, the heavily fortified town later became the centre of the island’s once-booming iron ore industry.
The series of fortresses, tunnels and pirate-proof ramparts that dominate its summit afford some spectacular views over the harbour and the island’s coastline.
During our ramble around the hilltop we spotted an inconspicuous sign for the Enoteca della Fortezza that said “wine tasting” and decided to investigate. To say it wasn’t what we were expecting is an understatement.
A long, steep tunnel lined with bottles of wine leads down to a 16th-century cavern with a view over the Gulf of Portoferraio. Part of the Slow Food movement – the global gastronomic organisation that promotes fresh, quality, locally sourced food – the enoteca is run by husband and wife team Antonio and Fiona de’ Medici.
Fiona, from England, first visited Elba in 1994 while completing her thesis on geology. In addition to becoming captivated with the island, she fell for sommelier and possible descendant of the Florentine de’ Medici dynasty, Antonio.
In 2008 the couple transformed the former gunpowder store room into an Aladdin’s cave of Elban wine, olive oil, honey, fruit, vegetables and fish.
Working closely with the Wine Consortium, Fiona says “The advantage is that our customers pay the exact same price for the wine here as they would if they went around all the producers and bought directly from them.”
She drew our attention to two of Elba’s most noted autochthonous (from the region) wines: the medium-bodied white Ansonica with peach overtones, and the highly aromatic red Aleatico, which goes very well with cantucci biscuits and was Napoleon’s favourite.
During our descent, the island’s bountiful supply of lizards and exotic butterflies was surpassed when a (non-venomous) metre-long Western Whip Snake zigzagged across our path at breakneck speed.
Back in Cavo the next evening, after a day flaked out on the beach, the café in the piazza was the place to be. As church bells rang in the background, inside the locals were drinking the island’s sparkling wine like it was going out of fashion. Not surprising since it cost €2.50 a glass and included a sumptuous spread of hand-made antipasti.
Like the inhabitants of Dylan Thomas's Llareggub, Cavo's night is enlivened by its characters, such as the scowling ice cream vendor with the alarming resemblance to actor Paul Sorvino, who played Paulie Cicero in Goodfellas.
Unlike many tourist towns in the Mediterranean region, Cavo is not over-developed. Rather it is developed just enough; its wooded hills sweep down to a turquoise sea, and in between is precious little terracotta.
The village juggles its picture-postcard beauty with a contained, efficient and friendly approach to tourism and, with less than 150km of coastline, it is easy to see much that the island has to offer, either by car or boat. But for those who just want to get away from it all, like we did, Cavo provides the perfect combination of fine food, fantastic swimming and a good night’s sleep.
Go there
Stay
Hotel Ginevra, Via A De Gasperi, Cavo, albergoginevra.it. Double room from €90 in summer, including delicious breakfast. Clean, quiet hotel with friendly staff. It is five minutes from the beach.
Hotel Marelba, Via Pietri 10, Cavo, hotelmarelba.it. Large hotel set off a quiet street among pine trees: €120 double room.
Hotel Pierolli, Lungomare Kennedy, Cavo, hotelpierolli.it. A seafront hotel whose restaurant seemed to be popular with guests. The prices depend on the view you have but in mid summer they ranged between €100-110.
Eat
Bellariva restaurant, Lungomare Kennedy 11, Cavo, 0039-565931014. Combines open air dining with music.
Enoteca della Fortezza, Via Scoscesa, Portoferraio, open 11am-3pm, 6pm to midnight. Wine tasting and delicacies with sommeliers in a gunpowder room-turned enoteca, enotecadellafortezza.com.
Fly, rail and sail
Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies from Dublin and Cork to Rome. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Dublin to Rome and Pisa. Take the train for Piombino, changing in Campiglia, trenitalia.com.
The ferry from Piombino to Cavo is with mobylines.com.