| Newsletter November 2008
Undiscovered Italy: Gavi and Zannone Islands, two pearls in the
Tyrrhenian Sea (Part 2)
Topic : Itineraries
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Gavi Island
September is the best month to visit the smaller Pontine Islands. The starting point is the vibrant and multicolor port of
Ponza
among seamen and fishing boats competing with the Ponza’s homes for the variety of their colors. After leaving the port an energizing breeze accompanies us and sprinkling a few sea drops on the face; with the waves on the stern, few minutes later here appearing the narrow passage of Gavi Island’s straits. Unless your boat is a small one you and you are very familiar with this narrow passage, it is always better and safer to circumnavigate the straits heading towards the open sea. If you want to shore on Gavi, on a good day the calmer sea on the north side will ease going ashore on this tiny island.
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With a length of about only 700 meters, it is the smallest of the Pontine Islands and is located only 120 metres off ‘Punta dell’ Incenso’ (means Incense Point), a fairly large rocky plateau on the northernmost point of Ponza. Before reaching Punta dell’ Incenso you can see from the boat the two little beaches of ‘Cala Felice’ among the rocks and steep cliffs of Ponza’s northern side.
Separated by a narrow stretch of sea from Ponza, the tiny island of Gavi is just a little more than a very large rock with a surface area of 14 hectares. ‘Punta Rossa’ (means Red Point) and ‘La Parata’ are Gavi’s most scenic spots. Gavi is quite rocky and today is used as a wildlife refuge home to migrating birds, wild rabbits and a species of lizard which is found only here, as well as scorpions.
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This island is 2,8 miles from the Port and is not inhabited; its highest point is 96 meters and there are no beaches. It is separated from Ponza by a canal of approx 130 metres. One can only sail with small to medium sized boats. In the 17th century the islanders of Ponza used to extract the china clay and bentonite from Gavi, which were then transported by boat and worked in Torre del Greco, near Naples. After that time Gavi was rented out to some Ponza’s islanders for grazing cows and goats.
Arriving from Ponza one can find the Parata, therefore the dock and path that lead to the only house of the island; going a bit further on one finds Punta Rossa and subsequently passes by the ancient quarry of china clay.
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Dozens of lizards and thousands little grasshoppers jump amid the dry, red grass of the hot season at the end of the long, hot summer.
The view is beautiful, with rocks shaped by wind, rain and burned by the sun. This enchanting scene justifies alone the day trip. The best is sitting on the hill above the sea and stay in silence enjoying the sun and listening the wind from the sea.
This last part ends the short walk around the island. Unless you feel tempted to drop your anchor and stop for the day sunbathing and swimming in these crystal clear water then it’s time to head again to the vastness of the open sea to discover
Zannone.
Zannone Island from the sea
Zannone lies approximately 6.5 miles from the port of Ponza and is a natural reserve oasis for migratory birds and from 1979 is part of the Circeo National Park for the integrity of its natural environments and beauty. This was the first island to be protected in Italy. One hundred hectares of undisturbed peace and nature: sunny, deserted and pristine like Robinson Crusoe’s island. September is my preferred month to travel around the
South Pontino
and these islands. Most of the resident commuters and tourists are back to the cities. The sea is always calm and the weather is still very good; it's not difficult to see the
dolphins and the whales
approaching the coast and the sailing boats.
The island has a surface of little more than 0.38 sq. miles and it is uninhabited but it is patrolled by government park rangers. At Zannone fishing is forbidden in the first 200 meters from the coast. Statistics says that only about one hundred people visit Zannone every summer: they come by boat from Ponza. There are no tourist facilities or campings and overnight stays are not allowed even though no special permit is necessary to visit the island. The park rangers are four and they are the only people on the island; each week they are given the changeover by four other rangers who stay on Zannone for the entire week to guard the island natural environment form poaching and illegal fishing.
 Click Here to see the Photos of the Newsletter
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It is one of the few natural environments of the Mediterranean to maintain the characteristics of the typical flora and fauna (mainly birds) almost intact. Some of the typical trees and plants found on Zannone is no longer found elsewhere in the Mediterranean. During the first hours of the morning in a clear and bright day from Zannone visitors can see all the
other islands
of the archipelago and the promontory of
Mount Circeo
on the mainland. The sea must be quiet and the weather warm as it is often in the Pontine Islands. These are the best conditions to sail around and visit Zannone with a small boat to pass between its rocks. From the small island of Gavi at the northern end of the island of Ponza, the route brings directly to ‘Il Varo’ which the only safe docking to go ashore on Zannone when the sea is calm.
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Zannone on land
The difficulties in docking and the high cliffs and coastine of Zannone helped to limit the human presence to the minimum and protected the island’s natural habitat. Zannone is the greenest of the Pontine Islands and characterized by typical Mediterranean oak (Quercus ilex)
forest formations
and is carpeted in the typical deep-green Mediterranean maquis or scrub; its beautiful landscapes range from the wild, rocky coasts with short cliffs to tiny bays and stony beaches washed by the clear turquoise-blue waters of the South Tyrrhenian. The northern slope of Zannone remains the most remarkable evidence of the ancient Mediterranean vegetation of the archipelago. Here, the wild-olive, arbutus, alaterni and the oaks, some of them very old, form a thick an impenetrable Mediterranean scrub. The abundance of oaks offer a good natural habitat in which a lot of birds' species nest.
Until 1944 the forest of Zannone provided wood and charcoal for the ovens of Ponza’s islanders. Over time, the protection assured from the Circeo National Park is recreating eventually an island with a full evergreen forest like in ancient times. Visitors should not be surprised to meet some wild sheep when exploring Zannone. A small colony of mouflons (Ovis aries) (a Mediterranean wild species of goats) is also populating the island. The mouflons colony was established here with animals brought from Sardinia Island since the first years of the ‘1900’.
The island was known to primitive man and witness of this early human presence are the remains of a neolithic settlement. Zannone unveiled also signs of early Mediterranean civilizations such as Phoenicians, Greeks and, obviously the Romans. Near the small harbor of Varo there is a moray eel pond of the
Roman period.
The island conserves the remains of the convent of Santo Spirito, an ancient ruined monastery. After the fourth century AD the Benedictine monks came to live on the island and named it Zannone in honor of a martyr made saint by the Roman church. The
frequent raids
of Saracen pirates forced the monks to leave the islands. The same destiny shared by all other Pontine Islands during the
Middle ages.
The ruins of the ancient monastery seem almost to recount the tales of the daily life of the small community of monks lost and secluded in the vastness of the open sea.
But, the monks came back around the year 1000 AD to stay until 1200 AD. For two centuries the monastic community lived of fishing and farming in this remoteness in the middle of the South Tyrrhenian Sea. The island has also an old lighthouse named ‘Capo Negro’ which was in use until 1969. Eventually, even the lighthouse was abandoned. One of the park rangers once said that ‘here you can hear the silence because the island in uninhabited, something that dos not happen anymore anywhere else’.
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The Mediterranean scrub with its aromatic wild rosemary, lentisk, euphorbia, phillyrea and heather, covers Zannone’s vulcanic rocks the eroded by wind, rain and time. After the rock of the "Monaco" (means the monk), and continuing to the "Punta Levante" Zannone offers some geological wonders of amazing beauty and colors. These are primordial metamorphic rocks dated around 300 million years ago. Their origin and history are completely different from the volcanic rocks present on the island and the rest of the archipelago.
Over the rocks, at the feet of the hill, there is cave which may resemble that of the mystical Bethlehem for the presence of two little, nice donkeys used by the park rangers to carry their provisions and water from the dock to the forestry service station.
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The path to reach the small forest begins from the ‘Varo’ and after the ancient Benedictine convent (more or less 120 meters) continues for 200 meters until a bifurcation: from here there a path which goes to the left and brings to the ridge from which begins the path to the lighthouse
the other path goes ahead forking soon after in two other little rural irregular paths, that bring to the island’s forest on the ridge and on Mt Pellegrino, Zannone highest point at 194 meters. On top of Mt Pellegrino there is the Forestry Service station with a small permanent educational exhibition explaining the nature, history and itineraries of the island. Beside the forestry station there the ruins of the Benedictine convent.
The second trail passing on their side and heads to the other side of the island. From the Mt Pellegrino you can see that the whole shape of Zannone: the slope on the south is rich of a bushy scrub forming a real green carpet extending towards the west side for more than forty hectares. This area is a very good pasture for the mouflons and provides shelter for the quails and other migrating birds. On Zannone birdwatchers can ebjoy the sight of over 200 species of migrating or nesting birds during the seasonal migration from north Europe to Africa before winter time and back form the heath of Africa to Europe in the spring. White and black storks, flamingoes, cormorants, many different species of eagles and falcons among which the rare Eleonora falcon, Ibis, and many others nest or rest on Zannone.
Click Here to see the Photos of the Newsletter
The northern side of Zannone is right in front of the Circeo promontory. This side of the island measures forty hectares and it is densely forested with a steep slope towards the sea. The view is majestic. The east and consist in a more than twenty hectares covered by a thick grove of oaks.
Zannone walking itineraries offers other interesting spots: From ‘Punta del Lauro’ to ‘Capo negro’ the rich vegetation of oaks, laurel, heather and Ephedroides broom is combined with colorful rocky strata of lime-stone and an amazing view over the blue sea. At ‘Cala Marina’ and the small inlet called ‘Cieca dei Pesci’, in the past fishermen from Ponza used lead and trap the fish to be captured in a sort of huge trap (called the tonnara), with a net floor that was raised and fish were then forced to the surface and killed.
The complete tour following marked paths along the upper ridge of the island takes about 50 minutes and ends coming back to the ‘Varo’. After an intense day of sailing, swimming and walking it is now time to go back to Ponza for the evening. An inviting fish dinner with a sea view in one of the oldest restaurants of the bigger sister island is waiting for us. We are going to leave behind the remoteness and untouched beauty of Zannone. From the edge of the ancient Benedictine monastery there is an amazing view which is enjoyed in the peaceful silence of Mother Nature, still reigning here. The sea breeze stopped and Mt Circeo vanishes in the mist of the early evening. I feel strongly than ever the desire to protect this corner of natural beauty for the future generations to come while the shape of Zannone disappears behind the boat on the horizon.
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