Matt Dillon

Last Wednesday the actor Matt Dillon was sitting at a bar in Piazza del Municipio with the wine expert James Suckling: they were going to visit the island of Gorgona.

See also: Gorgona's Wine
External links: Matt Dillon - James Suckling (Wikipedia)

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Gorgona's Wine

Flights landing to Pisa usually approach the airport from the sea and the first sign of the coast is this view of the island of Gorgona, our island prison and now a quality vineyard. Check the following piece of news and, if you like, follow the link below for the whole article.

“High on a hillside overlooking the azure sea on a small Mediterranean island, two brawny men toil under the sun in a vineyard that has just released a 50-euro ($66) wine destined for the tables of top restaurants. This is not an exclusive wine estate or secluded retreat for the rich, despite the tranquil beauty. It is, rather, the residence of men serving long sentences for some of Italy's most notorious and brutal crimes, on an island named after monstrous sisters in Greek mythology with snakes for hair.
Gorgona, the smallest of the Tuscan archipelago that also includes Elba, where Napoleon was incarcerated, is home to a project to rehabilitate hardened criminals through agriculture.”

(Gorgona Island Prison Hosts High-End Vineyard in Italy, The Huffington Post)

See also: Island Prison - Gorgona
External links: Gorgona - Tuscan Archipelago (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Gorgona

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Watching the Sea

Watching the sea from the “Rotonda”: on the left the cargo ship “Sakala”, on the right the island of Gorgona, 37 km (23 miles) off the coast, but still part of Livorno.

See also: Anne-Sofie & Sakala - Gorgona - Far from the Madding Crowd
External links: Gorgona (Wikipedia)

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Libeccio

Our windsurfers aren't scared by the “libeccio”. The “Moby Corse” may be waiting before entering port, but they are going full force.The waters at the “Tre Ponti” (Three Bridges) are pretty scary...The Gorgona island on the horizon, behind the cargo ship.

See also: Windsurfers - Going with the Wind - Three Bridges

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Gorgona

[Photos by Stefano]

My friend Stefano went for work to the island of Capraia and when the ferry, coming back, touched the island of Gorgona, he was able to take some shots of a part of Livorno I have never visited. The island is still a penal colony and access is restricted.The “Torre Nuova” (New Tower), recently restored, was built by the Medicis at the end of the 17th century to defend the island only landing.This is the village where the few Gorgonesi live. The white strip on the left is part of the small marina, guarded by a tower, where the motor boats of the Penitentiary Police dock.
On the left you can see the church of Saint Gorgonio, rebuilt in 1723 to replace an older one destroyed in the 15th century. The large yellow building in the middle is used as police officers' living quarters.A close up of the small beach from where a stair lead to the rest of the village. On the left the moored motor boat of the police.This is “Cala Martina” (Martina Cove), where some inmates work at the desalination plant and at the power generators.

See also: Island Prison - Man & Boat - Lisbon Express

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Lisbon Express

In my post “Turning Ships” I described a dance of tug boats, meaning it as something like a minuet around a ship. What the 31 meter tug “Piero Neri” is performing today is more a cancan.The boat is trying to go toward the 214 meter “Lisbon Express” coming straight into port.The “Piero Neri” reaches the Vegliaia breakwater, then slowly backtracks behind the “Diga Curvilinea” (Curved Breakwater).Behind the incoming “Lisbon Express” is clearly visible the island of Gorgona, 37 kilometer away.On the left of the ship, passing the Vegliaia breakwater, we can see the Meloria islet and its tower. There took place, in 1284, the Battle of Meloria, marking the end of Pisa as a sea power.The ship reaches the entrance of the port, where three tugboats are waiting for her. The towering structure on the right is the 52 meter tall lighthouse, called “Fanale dei Pisani”.

Search labels: tug

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Island Prison

A patrol boat of the Italian Penitentiary Police exiting the harbor, probably directed to the penal colony of Gorgona, an island in the Tuscan Archipelago about 37 km west of Livorno.Gorgona is still an administrative division of the municipality of Livorno, but access to the island for not residents is allowed only with the permission of the Italian Justice Department.

External links: Gorgona - Tuscan Archipelago (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Gorgona

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