BIRD TREK - Wildlife

- POMONTE (30 mt.)
- La Terra (550 mt.)
- La Tabella - M. di Cote(900 mt.)
- MARCIANA (370 mt.)
- Trip time: 5 hours 30 min.

Start from the square in Pomonte and begin walking to your left, looking towards the mountain, and take trail no. 4 which starts where the last houses of the village finish. The trail crosses the left side of the valley.
At the beginning, you find terraces some of which are still cultivated, and then as you gradually go further on and higher up, the cultivated vineyards become fewer and fewer.
The path which you follow is an old mule track that went from Pomonte to Marciana. After walking for about an hour, you get to an area known as "La Terra", a high plain where the terraces are wider and where you can find the remains of a few shelters that were used for storage when the area was still cultivated. This area was inhabited up until the beginning of the last century and even today you can find remains of ancient settlements and of two churches: that of St. Bartolomeo, on the rocky buttress that separates the Valley of Pomonte from that of Chiessi, and the church of St. Sebastiano, about two kilometres further north, above the trail that goes towards Madonna del Monte.
At "La Terra", trail no.4 crosses trail no. 10 which we take to reach the crest of the Capanne mountain group in the area called "Tabella - Monte di Cote". We then descend to "Stretta" where we meet trail no. 54 which takes us up to the road which links Marciana with Madonna del Monte. From here, we quickly descend to the village where our walk ends.
This entire walk is good for discovering birds of prey in flight above and various other types of birds, depending on the season.
Elba is like a convenient platform in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea for the flux of migratory birds seeking a rest place and shelter. Permanent forms of wildlife of a certain size include the red grouse, falcons, kites, hawks, dormice, wild hare, wild boar and martens. And if the wind is favourable and you proceed without making too much noise, wild Muflon mountain goats can offer, without a doubt, the most fascinating encounter that you can have. The most suitable places to see mountain goats are the higher areas of the Valley of Pomonte. The best place to observe birds is the "Stretta" which forms an almost forced passage between the western valleys and the wide valley of Marciana.

Tracking the past
The Hotel Ilio is offering clients "archeotrekking", a new way of experiencing Elba. The island's history comes to life along these ancient trails