Tremiti Islands
The Tremiti Islands (Isole Tremiti) form an archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, located approximately 22 kilometres offshore from the Gargano Peninsula in Apulia, southern Italy, and consisting of five main islands—San Domino, San Nicola, Caprara, Pianosa, and Cretaccio—along with smaller islets, with a combined land area of 3.06 square kilometres.[1][2] The islands, part of Foggia province and administered as a single comune with a resident population of 475, feature rugged terrain shaped by geological processes linked to the Apulian platform's margin.[3][4] Historically inhabited since the late Iron Age and utilized as a site of exile from Roman times onward, the archipelago gained prominence through the establishment of a Benedictine abbey on San Nicola in the 11th century, later repurposed as a penal colony under the Kingdom of Naples in the 18th century before its closure in the mid-20th century.[5] Today, the Tremiti Islands are distinguished by their designation as Italy's sole Adriatic archipelago and a marine protected area since 1989, safeguarding diverse benthic communities, seagrass meadows, and endemic species amid clear waters ideal for scientific study and recreation.[6][7]Geography
Location and Physical Composition
The Tremiti Islands constitute an archipelago positioned in the Adriatic Sea, approximately 22 kilometers offshore from the northern coast of the Gargano Peninsula in Italy's Apulia region.[8] This grouping represents the sole Italian archipelago in the western Adriatic, oriented southwest to northeast, with the islands emerging from a continental shelf that descends to depths of around 100 meters.[9][10] The archipelago encompasses five islands: San Domino, San Nicola, Capraia, Cretaccio, and Pianosa, spanning a total land area of 3 km².[9] San Domino, the largest, measures 2.08 km², while the others vary from flat, low-lying terrains like Pianosa to more rugged profiles.[11] Administratively, the islands form the comune of Isole Tremiti within Foggia province.[12] Physically, the islands arise from Cenozoic marine carbonate successions dating from the Paleogene to Pliocene, featuring rock types such as dolomites, dolomitic limestones, calcarenitic limestones, and marls, capped by Quaternary continental deposits including conglomerates, red loess, and aeolian sands.[10] The terrain is dominated by rocky coastlines, steep cliffs up to 116 meters high, karst features like dolines and littoral caves, shore platforms, and marine erosion surfaces at depths of 8–10 m, 20–25 m, and 50–55 m below sea level, shaped by tectonic uplift, karstification, and wave action.[10][13][14]