Calamita ( en, Magnet) is a large hill lying on the south-east side of the island of

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National ...

, known for a remarkable landscape and views of

Portoferraio Portoferraio () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the island's largest city. Because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny h ...

and

Monte Capanne Mount Capanne ( it, Monte Capanne) is the highest mountain on the Italian island of Elba and in the province of Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. It is located in the western part of the island, reaching a height of in elevation above the Mediterranean ...

. The hill's development dates from Elba's ancient periods, when Calamita was a major iron mining center. The Calamita's coast has been nicknamed "Costa dei Gabbiani" ("Skua Coast"), after the numerous

skua The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called jae ...

s which nest in the cliffs. The town of

Capoliveri Capoliveri is a ''comune'' (municipality) on the island of Elba in Italy. Administratively it is part of the Province of Livorno in the Tuscany region, located about southwest of Florence and about south of Livorno. The name appeared for the firs ...

sits on the north side of Calamita, overlooking the Mola flats. The southeast area of the hill is dotted with farmland, though much of it has been converted into tourist resorts and villas. On the south side is the Calamita iron mine, abandoned since 1981, where

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

nuggets can still be found.

External links

Cape Calamita Mine page
at the Mineral Database {{coord missing, Italy Hills of Italy Elba