Doing time on Italy’s prison islands

(CNN) — For centuries Italy has housed its convicts and political enemies on some of the myriad tiny islands that dot its stunning coastline.

Though they once held some of the country’s most-wanted criminals, these prison islands are now among its most-wanted vacation destinations.

Thanks to their remote locations and a former resident who once acted as a deterrent to visitors, many of these one-time penal colonies are largely unspoiled.

Tourists are few, beaches are pristine and flora and fauna abundant.

Montecristo, Tuscany

The island that inspired Alexander Dumas’s “The Count of Monte Cristo” novel is now as hard to reach as it was once to escape from.

Wild and uncontaminated, Montecristo is so pristine it’s been designated a biogenetic reserve by the European Union and is now home to the island’s solitary guardian, some wild goats and a few seals.

Getting there: The island allows just 1,000 visits per year and there’s a long waiting list, managed by Italy’s forest service (+39 056640019).

Those that do get permission for day trips will need to hire a boat.

Once there they’ll get a tour from a state forest guide, taking in a cave and monastery dedicated to hermit Saint Mamilian, who is said to have defeated a dragon here about 1,500 years ago.

Pantelleria, Sicily

Known as the Black Pearl of the Mediterranean, this volcanic island is closer to the coast of Tunisia than it is to Italy.

Tunisia’s scents and flavors are everywhere and most location names on the island are Arabic.

The island has changed hands numerous times in the centuries since prehistoric nomads left tombs known as “sesi” scattered across the fertile landscape.

Pantelleria has been a strategic Mediterranean hub for the Romans and Phoenician traders and was later occupied by the Spanish, who established a penal colony here.

Among the attractions are the white cone-shaped ancient dwellings, known as dammusi.

There are also geysers, hot springs and the Elephant Arc — a gigantic trunk-shaped rock that dips into the cobalt sea.

Zenobito Tower, Capraia Island.

Courtesy of Fabio Guidi

For wine lovers, the island’s fertile land produces great bottles such as Passito, a sweet amber-colored wine nicknamed “Pantelleria’s gold.”

Capraia, Tuscany

Closer to Corsica than mainland Italy, Capraia’s volcanic origins can be seen in its reddish Mars-like cliffs.

The island, whose name means “goat” in Italian, hasn’t housed prisoners since its penal colony closed in 1986, leaving a collection of spooky dungeons that are now on its list of attractions.

A single road connects the port to a medieval village where the San Giorgio fort, once the population’s shelter during pirate attacks, overlooks the sea.

At Il Carabottino (Via San Giorgio), a restaurant in a stone house, the local cook serves up whatever her fisherman husband catches in the net.

Santo Stefano, Latium

This black rock jutting out of waters is topped by a gigantic, abandoned prison fortress built by the Spanish Bourbons in the 1700s.

The donut-shaped prison structure is a grim circle of hell. Its cells featured only inward-facing windows to prevent inmates from looking out to sea — a view that on a clear day features Mount Vesuvius.

Thousands of anti-royalists and later, during the last century, anti-Fascists perished here.

One of modern Italy’s founding fathers and presidents, socialist Sandro Pertini, was shipped here by his enemy Benito Mussolini.

Boats moor at a tiny anchoring point close to “Julia’s Tub,” a natural wave-carved rock pool that the ancient Romans used as a Jacuzzi.

Tuna trapping in Favignana, Italy.

Courtesy of Enit Photo Archive

Gorgona, Tuscany

Italy’s only island still functioning as a prison, Gorgona is covered in typical Mediterranean bush vegetation.

Inmates work in vineyards and farms, making wine bottles, cheese, biscuits and pasta.

There’s a tiny fishermen village with 20 inhabitants, a church and lighthouse.

Ancient towers and a fortress offer spectacular views.

Getting there: Sentieri organizes daily boat trips from the mainland port of Livorno and guided trekking tours to the isle’s Cala Maestra cliff and a mosaic-covered Roman villa.

Only 75 tourists are allowed each day.

There’s a small guest house run by prison authorities (+39 0586861032) that offers food and shelter for the night, but usually only in emergencies.

Ventotene, Latium

In local dialect Ventotene’s name means “where the wind blows.”

Lying midway between Rome and Naples, it’s the farthest out of the Pontines, a collection of islands off Italy’s western coast.

Ventotene was established as a prison island in Roman times and was where Emperor Nero shipped his wife Claudia Octavia in the first century on false charges of adultery.

Mussolini imprisoned many of his opponents here, including Altiero Spinelli, a political theorist who is considered a founding father of the European Union.

The ancient Roman port is still used today but the former prisoners’ cells have been transformed into pink, yellow and purple summer houses.

Top attractions include the Calanave beach, the Roman Villa of Giulia and the ancient fishery.

Gorgona Island, Italy.

Courtesy of Rocco Rorandelli

Asinara, Sardinia

Once a penal colony, Asinara is now a protected park populated by more than 650 animal species, including wild albino donkeys that freely graze the land.

Bird watching, fishing, sailing and horseback riding are among the island’s attractions.