Lampione (; scn, Lampiuni; ar, جزيرة الكتاب, ''Jazīrat al-Kitāb'') is a small rocky island located in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, which belongs geographically to the

Pelagie Islands The Pelagie Islands ( it, Isole Pelagie; scn, Ìsuli Pilaggî), from the Greek , meaning "open sea", are the three small islands of Lampedusa, Lampione, and Linosa, located in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Tunisia, south of Sicily. T ...

and administratively to the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Lampedusa e Linosa Lampedusa e Linosa ( scn, Lampidusa e Linusa) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italy, Italian Regions of Italy, region of Sicily. Located about southwest of Agrigento and about southeast of Tunis, it is the sout ...

Province of Agrigento The Province of Agrigento ( it, Provincia di Agrigento; scn, Pruvincia di Girgenti; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Agrigento'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy, situated on its south-western coast. Follo ...

, region of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Italy. It is about long and across, and has an area of and a highest elevation of . The islet is uninhabited, the only building being a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

. According to the legend, the island was a rock that had fallen from the hands of the

cyclops In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

Polyphemus Polyphemus (; grc-gre, Πολύφημος, Polyphēmos, ; la, Polyphēmus ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and lege ...

. Lampione is part of the Riserva Marina Isole Pelagie, and its vegetation and wildlife are strictly protected. Animal species include the endemic ''Podarcis filfolensis'' ssp. ''laurentimulleri'' (also found on Linosa), which is a subspecies of Maltese wall lizard, numerous migrating birds, and the ''

Armadillidium ''Armadillidium'' () is a genus of the small terrestrial crustacean known as the woodlouse. ''Armadillidium'' are also commonly known as pill woodlice, leg pebbles, pill bugs, roly-poly, or potato bugs, and are often confused with pill millipedes ...

hirtum pelagicum'', a land

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

. The waters are populated by

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s, including the

sandbar shark The sandbar shark (''Carcharhinus plumbeus'') also known as the brown shark or thickskin shark, is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae, native to the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific. It is distinguishable by its ...

grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" is u ...

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

s, and varieties of yellow and pink

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

References

External links

History of Lampione, Italy
{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of Italy Pelagie Islands Lampedusa e Linosa Islands of Africa

See also

References

External links