Island of Lampione...
Discover the island of Lampione. Your guide to how to reach it and visit it. Enjoy with us the best images, the stories, the anecdotes of this little island. Immense casket of uncontaminated nature

Island of Lampione

Lampione the island where gulls, bertes e sharks go to school

A small trapeze in the middle of the sea about 17.9 kilometers from Capo Ponente western end of the island of Lampedusa, this is the island of Lampione.
Lesser sister of the larger Lampedusa and Linosa, rises from the Mediterranean sea with vertical cliff on the western and northern side and slopes gently to the south-east as if to caress the sea. Its dark and mysterious history is lost in the mists of time and few signs remain on the dry soil baked by the sun, imprints still visible, but only for the expert connoisseurs of stones and old pottery in opus signinum.The wind that often blows and exceeds sixty-two miles per hour and the impetuous sea of these areas of the Sicily Channel does not scratch the hard dolomite that forms it, the combined action of the two elements has created only two small caves on the north-eastern side and a small submerged, on the northern cliff. Although Lampione is the smallest of its sisters, it is the oldest, its rocks date back to the late Eocene, which translates into forty two million years, a relic of a vast geological formation buried in the Tunisian offshore.

My grandfather, old lighthouse keeper of the Pelagie Islands , told, while smoking his cigarettes and fingers yellowed by tobacco, the small lighthouse of Lampione and the times they were going to replace the gas bottles that fed him, with stories and anecdotes always different as the memories returned to his mind, on his sea full of fish and every good of god. The Lampione lighthouse, which is located along the highest cliff of the island, is powered by photovoltaic panels and is powered by photovoltaic panels and the maintenance of the guardians occur only rarely, almost always in summer.

The landing, now almost eroded by the sea, located on the south-eastern slope allows docking only to small boats and from here you can reach the lighthouse, climbing on the small cliff through a raised road in cement and rock, which cuts into two island, drawing on it a kind of z.

Lampione has been studied far and wide by scientists and experts of various disciplines, over the centuries, both today and in the twentieth and even earlier in the nineteenth century. Geographers, geologists, naturalists, botanists, archaeologists, geophysicists and entire international shipments complete with oceanographic ships. However, many of its deepest secrets remain in the secret archives of Italian and foreign oil companies, American species.Full reserve on land, marine area protected the surrounding sea, site of community importance (s.i.c. ITA040002) special protection area (SPA ITA040013) the island is a treasure of biodiversity both at sea and on land.
Lampione is however known as the island of the sharks, which here gather at the end of summer attracted by the abundance of prey.

Island Geography

Coordinate
  • Latitude
  • 35.552061
  • Longitude
  • 12.321199
Size
  • Surface
  • 0,036 kmq
  • Height max
  • 36 m
Political
  • Archipelago
  • Pelagie
  • Population
  • Uninhabited

The History of Lampione

A long history of sea and sailors

The ancient peoples of the Mediterranean, especially those known as great navigators, were aware of the little island of Lampione .Among all we cite the Phoenicians both because neighbors at lampione island and because they were great navigators. So close that one also a mysterious colony, it was located near Mahdia, the closest point to the Pelagie, the mythical and mysterious Hiboune.

So we are talking about great navigators and traders who began their explorations and colonization in Tunisia from the twelfth century a.c. to then take root and establish stable settlements. In this century, just to place some events, falls the city of Troy and in Egypt begins the dynasty of Ramses III. It is historically documented and ascertained that their wanderings and trade took place throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. So Lampione was certainly known and used for specific purposes. An island so small and without supplies of water could hardly be inhabited, but it could play an important role, like the one it currently does, that is, a beacon. The island was therefore known and used in the past centuries, with the name of Schola or Scola, which as reported by the geographer and saccense topographer Tommaso Fazello in the fifteenth century:

... In mezzo al mare, tra la Cercina e la Sicilia, si trovano tre isole deserte, Lampedusa, Lalenusa e Scola, che non sono lontane tra loro...
-F. Thomae Fazelli De rebus Siculis decades duae (Panormi 1558, 1560, 1568)


Or how he was called by Al Idrisi Arab geographer at the court of King Roger II of Altavilla in Palermo who called Lampione the island of the Book:



... Verso nord [si trova] a cinque miglia, un'isola molto carina che si chiama "Gazirat al kitab"(Isola del libro)
-Al Idrisi - Il libro di Ruggero

Excursion to Lampione

To take an excursion to Lampione, you need a private or charter boat. The island is nine nautical miles from Lampedusa, while from Linosa it is almost thirty nautical miles. To be able to reach it, it is necessary that the sea is suitable or that there is calm, considering that the days of calm of wind and sea in these areas of the Mediterranean are counted on the palms of hands, you have to take advantage at the right time and not postpone. There are many boat rentals that allow you to reach it as there are many boats that organize group tours. Particular mention is given to the diving centers operating both in Lampedusa and Linosa, which are, for obvious reasons, among the most frequent visitors to Lampione.

Lampedusa tour guide