Lampedusa Island

Lampedusa, long and narrow and running from east to west, covers 21sq.km/8sq.mi, reaches a height of 133m/437ft at Albero Sole in the northwest, and has about 5,000 inhabitants who make a living mainly from fishing for sardines and mackerel. The coastline is rocky with many ravines and caves; the only bathing beaches with almost white sand are in the southeast.

Vegetation is sparse, being limited to fig and locust-bean trees, fig-cacti and oleander bushes.

Small parts of the walls of ancient Lopadusa remain. Uninhabitated until the 19th century, people settled there once more in 1843.