Municipality of Rio Marina
Inhabitants name riesi
Patron Saint San Rocco – 16 August
Population 2,244 inhabitants
Area 19.90 km²
Density 112.79 inhabitants / km²
Town Hall Address:
Municipality of Rio Marina
Piazza Salvo d’Acquisto 7
57038 Rio Marina LI
Switchboard 0565 925511
Fax 0565 925536
Municipal Police 0565 925532
Email PEC protocol@pec.comuneriomarina.li.it
Corporate website www.comuneriomarina.li.it
The municipality of Rio Marina is located on the eastern side of the island, the largest localities are: Rio Marina and Cavo.
The town of Rio Marina is located inside a small sea inlet surrounded by hills whose earth, red due to iron oxide, is reminiscent of the rich mining past.
In this area the extraction of iron from the mines took place since the time of the Etruscans and was, together with fishing, the main activity of the inhabitants until a few decades ago.
Today Rio Marina is a seaside resort equipped for the needs of tourism. Its Municipality was established in 1882, detaching itself from Rio nell’Elba of which, obviously, it shares its history.
Connections with the mainland are active from the port as an alternative to Portoferraio .
Places of historical and cultural interest are the Church of San Rocco, the Torrione del Porto and the Elba Island Mining Park. to reach the suggestive Tonietti Mausoleum.
Other hamlets are Capo D’Arco, Ortano and Porticciolo.
The island of Palmaiola is part of the municipal territory.
Elba Island Mining Museum
Open from April to October.
Here you can view the varieties of minerals, about 1000 selected specimens, from different parts of Elba and visit the mines.
The island, in fact, from a geological point of view, is divided into 3 bands.
The western band, where Monte Capanne rises, is mainly made up of granite, tourmaline, beryl, serpentine and porphyry.
The median band is formed, to the east, of diabase and serpentine; to the west, of quartz porphyry, alberese, granite.
Rio Marina Finally, the eastern strip has a greater complexity of composition: the southern part of Monte Calamita and the piece of coast between Porto Azzurro and Rio Marina is composed of paleozoic micascists, feldspar, quartz, tourmaline, marble, dolomites. In the Capoliveri area there are porphyry and limestone masses; the northern part is the richest in iron minerals such as oligistus, limonite and magnetite, there are also slates and carbonaceous schists, Permian sandstones and puddinghe, Mesozoic limestones.
The last iron mine of the island was closed in October 1981.
Church of San Rocco
This ancient oratory was built by the Prince of Piombino in 1570.
Torrione del Porto
This tower with an octagonal base was built by James V Appian in 1534 as a system of sighting and defense.
Cavo
This town is a fraction of Rio Marina, located in the extreme northern tip of Elba, at the foot of Monte Grosso. Capo Castello, where there are the remains of a Roman villa from the first century AD and a beautiful cliff coast that goes from Capo Castello to Capo della Vita. The small port, in addition to being the closest port for connections with the mainland, is supplied with water and fuel for pleasure boats.
Illustrious guest was Giuseppe Garibaldi who in 1849, traveling to the island of Caprera, made a brief stop at Cavo .
Mausoleo Tonietti
This singular Art Nouveau-style building that rises among the wild vegetation of the island, was designed by the architect Gino Coppedè (Florence 1866 – Rome 1927) commissioned by the Tonietti family as a sepulchral chapel.
The Tonietti were the first concessionaires of the iron mines of the east coast of Elba after the unification of Italy.
Among the works of Coppedè are recalls the neighborhood of via Dora in Rome.
The localities
Rio Marina, Cavo, Capo D’Arco, La Chiusa, Ortano, Vigneria
The Beaches
Ortano beach, Marina di Gennaro, Porticciolo, Rio Albano, Torre di Rio Marina beach, S.Bernardo, Topinetti beach, Vigneria beach, Cala Seregola beach, Fornacelle beach, Cavo beach, Cala dell’Alga, Capo beach Castle