It’s coming up to mid August on Elba, and the entire population of Tuscany, or so it seems, has decanted itself on to this tiny Mediterranean island six miles from the Italian mainland. As the 15th of the month approaches, it’s increasingly hard to see any sand on the beaches for lime-green speedos and inflatables of equally garish colours. Italy’s public holiday of Ferragosto has its roots in the feriae Augusti, introduced by Augustus in 18 BC as a day of rest and celebration after the summer’s intensive harvest period. The Catholic church later earmarked the date for the Assumption, making it a holy day of obligation; but it was Mussolini, ever keen to associate himself with the first Roman emperor, who made this particular national holiday the seaside jolly it is today. The fascist leader laid on trains at discounted prices for the days around Ferragosto, allowing those of limited financial means to escape the city heat for the country’s coasts.
This date, 15 August, has traditionally been a double celebration for Elba, however, it being the birthday of the island’s most famous one-time resident, Napoleon Bonaparte (who had Tuscan ancestors). His image, and his emblems of the eagle and the bee, crop up all over the island, perhaps most conspicuously on its flag, designed by the man himself: a white ground with three golden bees on a red diagonal stripe. At dusk in the medieval hill town of Marciana, teenagers smoke cigarettes illicitly by the 16th-century church of Santa Caterina – away from parental eyes, but watched over by the bicorn-sporting general in fresco form on the wall opposite.
