Boat International - July 2018

A

volcanic blast gifted Favignana its eclectic

history: its 20 square kilometres are covered

with tuf stone, made from the ash of

an eruption, that can be cut like building blocks.

The savvy Romans quarried entire swimming pools

for themselves, complete with changing rooms and

seawater pumps. Their ladies-only bathing area,

Bagno delle Donne, survives on the isle’s eastern

tip. Tuf stone also formed the foundations of the

Saracen fort of Santa Caterina on Favignana’s

volcanic peak, which can still be spotted as soon

as you arrive in port.

But not everyone has settled here by choice.

Arab, Norman, then Aragonese rulers declared the

island ’s precipitous interior the perfect spot for a

high security prison. Whether the convicts deserved

the azure blue views east to Marsala, or west to even

more isolated Marettimo, is another matter.

The island still has one remaining penitentiary,

which hit the headlines in 2017 when three prisoners

cut through the prison

bars then lowered

themselves free using

knotted bed sheets. The

trio tried to steal a boat

but were tracked down

by their wet footprints

and incarcerated again

the same day.

But the island ’s

charms mean that it

draws more willing visitors than escapees. “To Italians, Favignana

is known as ‘the big butterfly’,” says Y.CO yacht manager Valeria

Sangalli. “The dramatic coastline around its two ‘wings’ makes

ita great yachtingdestination.”Thereareanumberofirresistible

grottos around its 32 kilometres of shoreline, including Grotta

dei Sospiri (the cave of sighs), which moans in the breeze as you

paddle inside. There is also sea life aplenty and the yearly

bluefin run funnels from Tunisia up through the surrounding

Aegadian Islands.

In 1874 the Florio family purchased the island and its lucrative fishing rights and the

resulting boom called for more tuf rock buildings. One quarry to the east of the island, which

was dug from the eighth century to the 1960s, has been replanted with island flora. These caves

now form the Giardino dell ’Impossibile, a rainbow display of oleanders and pomegranates that

dazzle against the soft white rock.

Favignana

Best by boat: Superyachts won’t fit in the Marina Favignana,

which can accommodate boats only up to 16m, but there are

numerous anchorages particularly to the north east and

south west of the island.

BEST FOR RUGGED COASTAL EXPLORING:

Location: West of Sicily, a day’s sail from Tunisia

Above: the fort and

former prison of Santa

Caterina looms over

the island of Favignana

Below: Favignana town

Left: there are grottos

galore around the

32km of Favignana’s

dramatic coastline

Favignana has many

anchorages from which

to enjoy its beautiful

beaches and water

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