★ 50 Isola di Pantelleria (Pantelleria)

The Carthaginians knew the island as yrnm (Punic: 𐤉𐤓𐤍𐤌) or ʾyrnm (𐤀𐤉𐤓𐤍𐤌).
The Greek geographers recorded it as Kossyra (Ancient Greek: Κόσσυρα) and Kossyros (Κόσσυρος), which became the Latin Cossura. This appears in Arabic as Qawṣirah (قوصرة) and Maltese as the former name Qawsra.
The original Arab name for the island was Bint al-Riyāḥ (Arabic: بنت الرياح and Maltese: Bint l-Irjieħ), meaning "Daughter of the Winds" after the strong gales that can arise off the north coast of Africa.
Its Sicilian name is Pantiddirìa, which gave rise to the present Maltese name Pantellerija.

The earliest evidence of human activity dates to the Neolithic, where it appears visitors to the island would arrive temporarily in order to extract obsidian for dispersion elsewhere in the central Mediterranean. The earliest permanent settlement would not begin until the Bronze Age, with the primary site, Mursia, being the only settlement known from the period. The iconic Sesi, megalithic multi-burial structures, would be built during this period as well.
The original population of Pantelleria did not come from Sicily, but were of Iberian or Ibero-Ligurian ancestry. After a considerable interval, during which the island probably remained uninhabited, the Carthaginians took possession of it, no doubt owing to its importance as a station on the way to Sicily. This probably occurred around the beginning of the 7th century BC. Their acropolis was the twin hill of San Marco and Santa Teresa, 2 km (1+1⁄4 mi) south of the present town of Pantelleria. The town has considerable remains of walls made of rectangular blocks of masonry and also of a number of cisterns. Punic tombs have been discovered, and the votive terra-cottas of a small sanctuary of the Punic period were found near the north coast.
The Romans occupied the island as the Fasti Triumphales record in 255 BC, lost it again the next year, and recovered it in 217 BC. It struck bronze coins, originally with a Punic inscription but changing to Latin by the 1st century BC. Under the empire, it served as a place of banishment for prominent persons and members of the imperial family. The town enjoyed municipal rights.
In 700 AD, Arabs conquered the island. In 1123, Roger II of Sicily took the island, and in 1311 an Aragonese fleet under the command of Lluís de Requesens won a considerable victory here. Requesens's family…

Geology

The island of Pantelleria is located above a drowned continental rift in the Strait of Sicily and has been the focus of intensive volcano-tectonic activity. The 15 kilometre-long (9.3 mi) island is the emergent summit of a largely submarine edifice. Two large Pleistocene calderas dominate the island, the older of the two formed about 114,000 years ago and the younger Cinque Denti caldera formed about 45,000 years ago. The eruption that formed the Cinque Denti caldera produced the distinctive green tuff deposit that covers much of the island, and is found across the Mediterranean, as far away as the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea. Holocene eruptions have constructed pumice cones, lava domes, and short, blocky lava flows.
Later activity constructed the cone of Monte Gibele, part of which was subsequently uplifted to form Montagna Grande. Several vents are located on three sides of the uplifted Montagna Grande block on the southeast side of the island. A submarine eruption in 1891 from a vent off the northwest coast is the only confirmed historical activity.
Currently the island is subsiding, and Montagna Grande is slowly sinking. This is thought to be caused by the magma beneath the volcano cooling and degassing. There are numerous hot springs and fumaroles on the island due to an active hydrothermal system. Favara Grande, in the south east of the island, is one of the best examples. The island is releasing a small amount of CO2 through passive degassing.
Total carbon stock in the first 30 cm (12 in) of soil of Pantelleria is about 230,000 tonnes.
The island is the type locality for pantellerite, a peralkaline rhyolite.

Environment

Pantelleria National Park (Italian: Parco Nazionale dell'Isola di Pantelleria) was established in 2016, and covers an area of…

As of 2026, the population is 7,150, of which 50.5% are male, and 49.5% are female. Minors make up 14.3% of the population, and seniors make up 24.2%.

Immigration
As of 2025, immigrants make up 7.5% of the population. The 5 largest foreign countries of birth are Romania, Tunisia, Albania, Germany, and Sudan.