Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of the Tremiti Islands. I’d never heard of them until I decided to take this OAT trip. As we worked our way south along Italy’s Adriatic coast, we spent a full day on exploring this group of five islands located 14 miles off the coast of Puglia. I think it was my 5th day on board the MV Athena – at that point during the trip, I’d lost track of days of the week and outside time no longer existed. That’s one of the things I love about travel.
In any case, our ship docked early in the morning in San Nicola, one of five islands in the archipelago. What struck me immediately, as we walked off the ship right into town, was how beautiful the water was. I hadn’t imagined the Adriatic would be so clear and such a vivid turquoise color. Sea birds were swooping overhead and calling out greetings of the day. The birds resembled seagulls but I later learned that they are a distinct species only found on the islands.
The islands, which are now part of a national park’s marine nature reserve, have an interesting history. As far as we know, settlement goes back to the Bronze Age. The first written historical records go back to Roman times. The name of the archipelago may be related to the Latin word tremor since the area has a history of earthquakes. The Romans used the island of San Nicola as an open-air prison. The cold, windy climate made it quite inhospitable and it was far enough from the mainland to make escape highly unlikely.
Earthquakes are common in the area, which is why The Romans gave the islands the name Tremiti, from the Latin word for tremor.
Three of the islands are uninhabited and the other two are very sparsely populated. On the island of San Nicola, we met our local guide, Marta, who arrived by boat from the mainland. She told us that only 40 people live year-round on San Nicola, which is the administrative center of the archipelago. About 70 people live year-round on the neighboring island of San Domino. If it’s peace and quiet you want (aside from the constant cry of the gulls), or just to get away from people, these islands are the place to go – except in July and August when thousands of vacationers arrive to enjoy the swimming, snorkeling, and diving opportunities.
According to Marta, Benedictine monks settled on San Nicola in 1014 and built the Abbey of Santa Maria a Mare. A monk named Nicolo is buried on the island. Various other religious orders arrived over the following centuries. In the 18th century, the islands served as a penal colony for the reigning Bourbon monarchs. (This was when the French/Spanish dynasty ruled much of southern Italy.) In the mid-19th century, a small community of fishermen was established on the islands. And in the early 20th century, when Mussolini was in power, homosexuals and political prisoners were sent to internment camps with no electricity or running water on the islands.
During our walk on San Nicola, we saw the remains of an 11th century fortress (the castle of Badiali) and a 16thcentury limestone church. The cloister of the church is currently undergoing restoration. The site looked quite desolate, with golden patches of lichens covering the tumbled down stone walls and lizards scurrying over the rocks. There were no other tourists around.
It wasn’t unusual for people to swim from San Nicola to the neighboring island of San Domino. We, however, skipped that experience. After exploring San Nicola, we boarded a small motor boat for a tour around San Domino, the largest of the Tremiti Islands. This is where most of the archipelago’s tourist facilities (hotels, restaurants, etc.) are located.
The north side of the island is exposed to the mistral, the strong wind from the North, that has carved deeply into the limestone cliffs, creating the haystack rocks that jut out into the turquoise waters as well as numerous small grottoes and caves.
Two lighthouses stand on the cliffs near the southern tip of the island.
The landscape on the south side of San Domino is less dramatic. Since it is not as windy as the north side, the Aleppo pines and other vegetation grow closer to the water’s edge.
We had a group lunch near San Domino’s main square at Ristorante La Fenice (the Phoenix). We sat in a lovely open-air patio in a garden setting and enjoyed an all-pizza menu: Marguerita; white pizza with mushrooms; white pizza with vegetables; and diablo (spicy meats).
Afterwards, there was time to visit the island’s main sandy beach. The water looked so inviting that I slipped off my sandals and waded in. The water temperature was unexpectedly warm, nothing like the Atlantic in May.
I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t find any shells. But I did discover excellent pistachio and hazelnut gelato at a stand near the beach before we headed back to the Athena. Of course, the real discovery of the day was the Tremiti Islands themselves.
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