Isola di Pianosa, Campo nell'Elba, 57034 Campo nell'Elba LI, Italy
The island has been inhabited and used as a place of exile since ancient Roman times. During the Roman era, the island hosted the Roman settlement Planasia, which included a theater and catacombs. In the year 6 AD, Emperor Octavian Augustus exiled his grandson and potential heir Agrippa Postumus to the island. Postumus remained there until he was assassinated by a hired killer sent by Tiberius around 14 AD. Postumus lived in Agrippa’s villa, which was discovered by Abbot Gaetano Chierici in the late 1800s and included a theater, thermal baths (Bagni di Agrippa), and a Roman villa with black-and-white mosaic floors and mythological decorations with a marine theme.
In the 4th century, a small Christian community lived in Pianosa, leaving traces of their presence in the catacombs. These catacombs are located on two levels and are the largest north of Rome; 700 catacombs were discovered, indicating a considerable population.
Pisa gained control of the island after winning a naval battle nearby in 874. In the Middle Ages, the island’s ownership was contested by Pisa and Genoa due to its strategic location. In 1238, Genoa sent troops to the island under the pretext that the inhabitants were engaged in piracy. Pianosa suffered numerous pirate raids; the worst occurred in 1553 when the Franco-Turkish fleet under Dragut exterminated the population.
In 1856, Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, established a penal colony on Pianosa, as it was considered an ideal place for isolation, segregation, and supervision of prisoners. When the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, there were 149 prisoners on the island. In 1864, a facility capable of housing 350 prisoners was built, but in 1872 the island was divided into numerous farms, grouping prisoners into small communities. By 1880, there were 960 prisoners. The inmates cultivated grains, produced oil and wine such as Sangiovese and Procanico. There were poultry, pig, and cattle farms. From 1884 to 1965, due to its dry climate, Pianosa hosted prisoners from mainland Italy who were afflicted with tuberculosis. In the early 1900s, the island’s population consisted of 21 civilians, 80 prison guards, 40 soldiers, and 800 prisoners. Sandro Pertini, later President of the Italian Republic, was imprisoned there in 1932 for political reasons. During World War II, on September 17, 1943, German troops invaded and occupied Pianosa. On March 19, 1944, French commandos landed on the island and, after a brief firefight, withdrew, taking 40 prison guards hostage. The following month, an Allied bomber attacked the island, killing six people.
In the postwar period, the colony returned to its original role as a prison island. A Carabinieri post and a Financial Guard unit were established, and houses were built to accommodate soldiers’ families. In the 1970s, by order of General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, the former sanatorium was converted into a maximum-security prison for mafia bosses and Red Brigades terrorists: Giovanni Senzani, Renato Curcio, Alberto Franceschini, and Bruno Seghetti. In accordance with Article 41-bis of the prison regime, in May 1977, planes and helicopters transported 600 prisoners from all over Italy to Pianosa in just two days. A six-meter-high, 3 km-long reinforced concrete wall was built in 1979 to separate the village from the penitentiary facility. The murders of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 led to the resumption of the Agrippa section under the 41-bis regime, and on the night of July 20, fifty-five mafia bosses held in Palermo Ucciardone prison, including Michele Greco, were flown by military transport plane to Pisa airport and then transported by helicopter to Pianosa.
The island remained a prison fortress until July 17, 1997, when Gaetano Murana, the last prisoner under the 41-bis regime, was transferred to another prison. Before that, Pianosa had housed mafia bosses such as Pippo Calò, Nitto Santapaola, and Giovanni Brusca, and became well known for the brutality prisoners endured. On June 28, 1998, the Prodi government decided to permanently close the penitentiary. The remaining prisoners and residents of Pianosa were evacuated in one day, leaving only a few guards on the island as caretakers.
Pianosa Island gained fame thanks to Joseph Heller’s absurdist anti-war novel "Catch-22." The novel is set on Pianosa, where, according to the plot, the 488th squadron of the 27th Air Force is stationed, although the author himself notes that the island is “certainly too small to accommodate the described events.”
Today, the island is a national park.
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