During a visit to Ventotene, it is impossible not to notice the islet of Santo Stefano
. Its imposing silhouette, crowned by the structure of the Bourbon prison, immediately becomes a familiar backdrop to a swim in Cala Nave or a stroll around the harbour. The birth of the two islands, according to geologists, occurred around the same time as a result of volcanic eruptions. On the base of lava rock that emerged from the water, the millennia led to the accumulation of other volcanic material, lighter and more friable.
Scarcely frequented in Roman times, which left only the pool of the Vasca di Giulia and a few masonry remains, the island was a refuge for hermits and later became an agricultural appendage of nearby Ventotene. The shape of Santo Stefano is roughly circular, with a coastline development of almost two kilometres, while the surface area does not exceed 29 hectares and the maximum height above sea level is 84 metres. The idea of using Santo Stefano as a place of detention dates back to the time of the Bourbon colonisation of the archipelago. The horseshoe shape of the structure met various needs. To enter the prison, one passes through a doorway on which a plaque commemorates the imprisonment of the anti-fascist Sandro Pertini.
But Ventotene is also the cradle of United Europe thanks to the monumental work known as the Ventotene Manifesto, drafted by Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni, opponents of the fascist regime confined there, which, in 1941, at the height of the world conflict, called for the Union of European countries and which was to become the ideal reference point to which many would look to in the following years for the process of continental integration.
Those who land in Ventotene today disembark directly in the Porto Romano. An anomalous port, not so much stretched out to sea as firmly clinging to the mainland. An island to be discovered in every corner, to be experienced by day with its breathtaking sea and seabed, and by night kissed by the moon, by a sky so starry and immense that it appears even larger from the island, offering infinite emotions.