Ustica (; ) is a small Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is about across and is situated north of Capo Gallo, Sicily. Roughly 1,300 people live in the comune (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular ferry service from the island to Palermo in Sicily.

History

Late Bronze Age

Excavations begun in 1989 at Tramontana, also known as Faraglioni, have unearthed what was a large prehistoric village dating from the 14th to the 13th century BC. The foundations of some 300 stone-built houses were discovered, and the defensive walls of the settlement are among the strongest fortifications of any period known in Italy. It is believed that these early settlers came over from the Aeolian Islands.

Ustica contains the remains of the Bronze Age settlement of Villaggio dei Faraglioni. It showcases organized urban planning with huts and narrow roadways along its northern periphery, representing a well-preserved example of ancient Mediterranean civilization between 1400 and 1200 BC. Recent archaeological investigations unveiled a sophisticated fortification system beneath the village. Using non-invasive techniques such as ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography, researchers identified an 820-foot-long arc-shaped stone wall, standing 13 to 16 feet tall.

In historic times, the island has been populated at least since about 1500 BC by Phoenician peoples.

Classical Age

The island named Osteodes (Ὀστεώδης; meaning "Bone Island" in Greek) because, during the wars between Carthage and Syracuse, about six thousand unpaid mercenaries rebelled against their Carthaginian commanders, threatened violence over delayed wages, and caused such unrest that the Carthaginian senate secretly ordered the generals to eliminate them, the commanders then deceived the mercenaries by placing them on ships under the pretense of a military mission, abandoned them on the isolated island without food or means of escape and left them to die of starvation, after which the island was said to have become covered with their bones.

Both Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy treated Ustica (Οὐστίκα) and Osteodes as two different islands, but they were actually the same island, originally called Osteodes by the Greeks and later known to the Romans as Ustica, with the change in names causing later geographers to mistakenly identify them as separate places.

The Romans renamed the island Ustica, Latin for burnt, for its black rocks. The island is also known locally as the "black pearl". In the early 1940s Yugoslav war prisoners were crammed onto the island, and many of them died from malnutrition and tuberculosis. In the 1950s they were followed by suspected Mafiosi expelled from Sicily.

Ustica Massacre

On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 crashed into the sea off the island while en route to Palermo, killing all 81 people on board. The event became known as the Ustica massacre.

Demographics

Environment

thumb|right|Location of Ustica in the Tyrrhenian Sea.The island has limited sources of water, and vegetation is consequently scarce. The coast has numerous rocks and grottoes.

Ustica is home to the honeybee Apis mellifera sicula.

Tourism

Ustica is particularly known for scuba diving, with a number of diving schools established on the island. Recreational divers are attracted by the relatively deep dives, which are a feature of the island's volcanic geology.

Climate

Ustica's climate is classified as hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa). The annual average temperature is , the hottest month in July is , and the coldest month is in February. The annual precipitation is , of which October is the wettest with , while July is the driest with only .

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File:Ustica.jpg|An image of Ustica at sunset

File:UsticaFerry.jpg|Ustica seen from the ferryboat

File:Ustica panorama del porto e del paese.jpg|A panorama of the Ustica harbour

File:Torre Santa Maria ad Ustica.jpg|Santa Maria Tower near the Ustica harbour

File:Torre dello Spalmatore - Ustica.jpg|Tower of the Spalmatore – Ustica

File:Ustica costa nord.jpg|The northern coast of Ustica

File:Ustica seen from the airplane.jpg|Aerial view of Ustica

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See also

  • List of islands of Italy

References

  • Ustica Genealogy