Portoferraio is a town and commune in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour in the Elba island. It is the largest city in the island, although its typical buildings grow on the slopes of a tiny hill surrounded on three sides by the sea. At the top of the hill a fortress rises with very large walls and shelters; it was built by the mighty Florentine family of Medici, and its purpose was to balance the power of Spanish citadel built in Porto Azzurro. Now the fortress hosts a correctional facility. The town center is crowded around the small marina drawn in a natural cove; on the deck a lot of delightful shops lies beside the calm sea. You have to visit the archeological museum and the Napoleon house; and you should taste the typical "schiaccia briaca" (whose name, which we could translate as "drunk cake", tell us a lot about the sanguinous character of Elba people) and the "cecina", a salt cake with chickpea flour. The name "Portoferraio" (="Iron Port") remind us about the past times when Elba was a centre of the iron mining; on the southern coast of the isle indeed we find a mountain whose name is "Calamita" (="Magnet") where is an ancient iron mine with sparse pyrite nuggets.

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