isola di Lampedusa (Lampedusa)

The name Lampedusa derives from the ancient Greek name of the island, Λοπαδούσσα (Lopadoússa) or Λαπαδούσσα (Lapadoússa).
It has been suggested that the name derives from the word λέπας (lépas), which means 'rock', due to the rocky landscape of the island; another story is that this word was also used by the Greeks for a kind of oyster and the island was called that, due to the abundance of this kind of oyster. Other scholars believe that the name derives from λαμπάς (lampás), which means 'torch', because of the lights which were placed on the island for sailors. Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax called the island Λαμπάς (Lampas).

Prior to 1800

Historically, Lampedusa was a landing place and a maritime base for the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. The 4th-century BC Greek manuscript, the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, mentions that there were two or three towers on the island.
The Romans established a plant for the production of the prized fish sauce known as garum. In 812 (or 813), directed by the Aghlabids, the island was sacked by Saracens during the Arab–Byzantine wars.
By the end of the medieval period, the island had become a dependency of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1553, Barbary pirates from North Africa under the command of the Ottoman Empire raided Lampedusa and carried off 1,000 captives into slavery. As a result of pirate attacks, the island became uninhabited. In 1565, Don García de Toledo made a brief stop at Lampedusa while leading a relief force to break the Great Siege of Malta. In subsequent centuries, the Hospitaller fleet which was based in Malta sometimes used Lampedusa's harbour as a shelter from bad weather or from corsairs.
In 1667, the island was given to Ferdinand Tomasi of Palermo, who acquired the title of Prince of Lampedusa from King Charles II of Spain. Tomasi was the ancestor of the writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. A century after acquiring the island, the Tomasi family began a program of resettlement.
In the late 18th century, the Order of St. John maintained a small establishment on Lampedusa, which included a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This was manned by a priest and six Maltese men, who often traded with pirates. A structure known as marabuto, probably a mausoleum commemorating a member of the Marabouts, also existed on the island at this time, and it was visited by many Muslim devotees.

19th century

On 25 June 1800, Don Giulio III Maria…

Lampedusa is the southernmost point of Italy. Politically and administratively, Lampedusa is part of Italy, but geologically it is part of Africa since the sea between the two is no deeper than 120 m (390 ft). Lampedusa is a semi-arid island, dominated by a garrigue landscape, with maquis shrubland in the west. It has no sources of water other than irregular rainfall. Overall the island has two slopes, from west to east, and from north to south of the island. The south-western side is dominated by deep gorges, while the southeastern part is dominated by shallow valleys and sandy beaches. The entire northern coast is dominated by cliffs: gently sloping cliffs on the east coast, and vertical sheer cliffs on the west coast.

Geology
Lampedusa geologically is part of the "Pelagian Province" (USGS definition), a structural member of the African continent, lying on a structural high called the Lampedusa Plateau. Lampedusa essentially is a tilted block of limestone, the highest point being on the NW coast and the lowest on the SE coast, the island being soft limestone, of a white to creamy-yellow. This area lies on a seismically active part of central Mediterranean, the Sicily Channel Rift Zone. From a structural point of view, Lampedusa belongs to the Pelagian Block, a foreland at the northern edge of the African Plate, and is inside the Sicily Channel.

Climate
Lampedusa has a subtropical semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh) characterized by hot, rainless and humid summers, warm winters, a powerful seasonal lag and a small diurnal temperature range. The constant sea breezes moderate the daytime summer temperatures. Lampedusa has the warmest winters in Europe, as well as the sunniest climate year-round. Along with coastal Pantelleria, Kasos, Karpathos, Kastellorizo and coastal…

The fauna and flora of Lampedusa are similar to those of North Africa, with a few pelagic endemic species. The Isola dei Conigli (literally "Rabbit Island"), close to the south coast of Lampedusa, is one of the last remaining egg-laying sites in Italy for the loggerhead sea turtle, which is endangered throughout the Mediterranean. The beach and the neighbouring island are part of a nature reserve: here the singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno spent his vacations, and died in 1994. Next to Parise Cape is a small beach accessible only by sea, through a low grotto. Other species living along the island's coast include mantas and smaller cetaceans such as dolphins and Risso's dolphins. Waters near Lampedusa are the only area in the Mediterranean with sightings of pregnant great white sharks and newly born individuals. Recent studies revealed that the waters of Lampedusa are a wintering feeding ground for the Mediterranean group of fin whales. Humpback whale, a species formerly considered as a vagrant species in the Mediterranean basin, has been seen around the island in recent years.
Along with Linosa, Lampedusa once was a stronghold for endangered Mediterranean monk seals until the 1950s, and they are likely to be currently extirpated from the island. However, monk seals were sighted along Lampedusa in 2020.