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A long path between two rows of olive trees, in absolute stillness, leads to a wrought iron gate which separates you from a calm blue sea. One imagines the silence and circumspection of May 4, 1814, when Napoleon, having arrived in Portoferraio the night before, chose that bay for landing. Small, quiet, reassuring. It was an evening when the north wind was probably blowing, caressing the flat water without a ripple. The perfect condition to go to Capobianco, Sansone, Procchio, Biodola, coasts and colors that reveal themselves in all their splendour.
With the landing of the frigate Indomable (there couldn’t have been a better name) on 4 May two centuries ago, where the “La Chiusa” winery now stands, the emperor’s exile on Elba began, almost ten months of reign (he will flee on February 26, 1815) which have their weight in the identity of a place loved by Italians and foreigners of all ages. Defeated and humiliated in the battle of Leipzig, he was granted the sovereignty of the island, from the capital Portoferraio with its defensive character wanted by Cosimo de’ Medici to the Rio Maggiore of the iron mines, from Porto Azzurro, another important hub, to Capoliveri and the other villages. A territory to which Napoleon soon became attached, the Corsica of his childhood is nearby, he dreams of it from the residence of the two mills, at the top of Portoferraio: a strategic position, near Forte Falcone, from which he scans the horizon observing the Piombino channel d ‘one side, the interior of the gulf on the other. No enemy threat will ever escape him.
He immediately decides that it must be tout comme à Paris, and thus recreates the etiquette of the court, the gardens overlooking the sea, the reception rooms, an adequate library (from Plutarch to Virgil, from Rousseau to Voltaire, the treatises on science , geography, astronomy, the codes of French law, the chronologies, the years of the «Moniteur» and much more coming from Fontainebleau). Nor can a theater for the citizens be missing: the small deconsecrated church of San Francesco, in via del Carmine, is perfect for setting it up. Descending from there towards the village, the sound of the waves comes from a nearby overhanging railing and you are left unarmed in front of a corner of the beach which, not surprisingly, is called “Le vistas”, squeezed between the rocks.
The emperor was certainly not satisfied with the villa dei due Mulini, he soon identified his maison rustique, the country house in San Martino, not far from Portoferraio. The pine trees, the dense mastic tree, the oleanders and the bougainvilleas that embellish the scattered houses follow one another along the road that leads to the residence: the original building is preceded by an imposing avenue and a monumental neoclassical construction commissioned in the second half of the 19th century by the Russian prince Demidoff to celebrate the emperor. Who, however, had imagined and built for himself an agricultural estate in the name of sobriety and work: he has animals brought there, the farmers’ houses are nearby, the already planted vineyards guarantee a good production, there will be 487 barrels that ‘year.
Napoleon’s ambition was to make Elba modern and advanced, to promote its economic development. It is no coincidence that, the day after his arrival, his first move on horseback is in the direction of the iron mines of Rio Maggiore (closed in 1983, they can be visited), a crucial place for the well-being of the island. And also the fact that he takes care of having a home in each village – for example in Porto Azzurro, inside the prison, or in Marciana, in the hermitage of the Madonna del Monte – each governed by a maire, a mayor, who reports to him of daily life, says a lot about the will to control and at the same time to know the individual realities.