8 of the best islands in Italy (and what makes them special)

Whether you arrive by boat across a glass-blue sea or by plane skimming over mountain tops and volcano craters, little beats the thrill of dropping anchor or touching down on a new Italian island. With 450 to pick from, Italy has an island for every mood, moment and budget – from glamorpuss Capri to smouldering Stromobil, outdoorsy Elba to Lake Maggiore’s palace-speckled Borromean Islands. With stirring views, gorgeous beaches, honey-hued villages, mountains to climb, and their own rich cuisines and histories, many of these islands pack a whole lot of Italy into just a few square miles.

We’ve combed Italy to bring you 12 rather special islands, but travel the length of the boot and hop on a random boat and you are bound to find your own favorites, too.

1. Ischia 

Best for beaches

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Bubbling out of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the volcanic isle of Ischia is a refreshing tonic after the heat and hectic pace of Naples, an hour’s hydrofoil away. Dubbed Isola Verde (Green Island) because of its lushness, this island is a beauty, with ragged mountains puckering up above terraced vineyards, hot springs, botanical gardens, cliff-flanked bays and great swathes of golden sand smoothed by a startlingly azure sea. It’s pure silver-screen, and indeed Ischia starred as a backdrop in the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley.

If Capri is classy, Ischia is chilled. You could just spend your days lounging on pirate bays like Spiaggia dei Maronti, bathing on the hot, thermal sands of Le Fumarole, or digging into spaghetti alle vongole (garlicky clam pasta) in pastel-painted coastal villages like Sant Angelo. If you can muster up the enthusiasm for anything besides, visit La Mortella, extraordinary botanical gardens inspired by Spain’s Alhambra, which were the former home and gardens of the late British composer William Walton.

Getting there: With SNAV and Caremar hydrofoils buzzing from Naples to Ischia in 45 minutes to an hour, the island is doable as a daytrip but you’ll wish you’d spent a night or two. 

2. Sicily 

Best for cinematic backdrops

Hot, spicy and crazily beautiful, Sicily – Italy’s biggest island – is closer to North Africa than the Italian mainland and as such has its own distinct vibe. Capped off by the mighty, 3326m-high (10,912ft) volcano Mt Etna, the island is visually epic. We’re talking honey-colored hill towns, medieval Catania, white-sand beaches easing into sapphire-blue seas and a phenomenally wild, mountainous hinterland. 

But Sicily has personality as well as looks. Here you can break up lazy beach days with some of Italy’s most enthralling cultural sights – from spinning back to ancient Greece at the UNESCO World Heritage Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, to gawping at exquisite Byzantine mosaics in Palermo’s Cappella Palatina, and marvelling at the sensational Arab-Norman Duomo in seaside Cefalù.

Food, you say? You won’t eat better anywhere in Italy, whether it’s perfect arancini in Palermo’s souq-like markets, boat-fresh, lightly battered seafood (frittura mista) in Catania, or crunchy, sugary, ricotta-filled cannoli with candied orange or pistachios. From humble street food to Michelin-starred finery, the Sicilians love to eat.   

Getting there: Sicily's two main airports serve the island's two biggest cities: Palermo and Catania. For cheaper flights, visit in the shoulder or low seasons.

3. San Domino 

Best for snorkelling and diving

If you’ve never heard of San Domino in Puglia’s Isole Tremiti, you’re not alone but you are missing a trick. North of the Gargano Peninsula, these little-raved-about islands deserve more fuss, with rugged, pine-cloaked cliffs diving to coves, blonde sands and the Adriatic Sea fading from brightest azure to deepest sapphire. 

San Domino is the springboard for exploring this five-island archipelago, with a trail-woven coastline indented with coves, grottoes and the odd pretty sandy bay like Cala delle Arene. If it looks tempting to leap straight into these waters, it is – snorkelers and divers are in their element here. Tremiti Diving Centre makes it happen. Boat trips also depart from the port around the island, dipping into caves including the big one, Grotta del Bue Marino, with the chance to swim in jewel-colored waters. Mare e Stelle is a reliable pick.

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Getting there: Boats from the Italian mainland to the Isole Tremiti depart from Manfredonia, Vieste and Peschici in summer, and Termoli in nearby Molise year-round. Most arrive at San Domino. 

4.  Elba 

Best for hiking and biking

Dangling off the coast of Tuscany and forming part of the seven-island Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscano, Elba is bewitching. A battle-weary Napoleon was exiled here in 1814, but fled after a year and returned to Paris. Why is anyone’s guess. When you clap eyes on its castaway coves, vineyards, azure waters and roads corkscrewing high into the mountains, revealing heart-pumping views on every bend, you might never want to leave. 

There are some heavenly beaches where you can plonk your towel and snorkel in brilliantly turquoise waters, such as cliff-wrapped, white-pebble Spiaggia La Sorgente and Spiaggia di Sansone. But Elba really has the edge when it comes to hiking and biking, with a vast network of trails. Fancy a proper challenge? Lace up boots for the Great Elba Crossing, a 60km, four-day scramble over the island’s highest ridges, including 1018m Monte Capanne. 

Getting there: Moby operates a frequent year-round ferry service between Piombino on the mainland and Cavo (30 minutes), Rio Marina (45 minutes) and Porto Ferraio (1 hour). 

5. Capri 

Best for glitz and glamor 

The supermodel of the Italian islands, Capri can work a crowd. Off the west coast of the high-drama Sorrento Peninsula, this island’s beauty is off the scale. Roads rollercoaster down to startling blue seas, cliffs punching above honey-gold sands, gorgeous villas drip with bougainvillea, and yacht harbors are as polished as the mega-rich that flock to them. 

Capri’s spell touches people in different ways, but moments to remember might include hiking or jumping into the chairlift to 589m-high (1932ft) Monte Solaro for soul-soaring views over the Bay of Naples, wandering the flowery terraces of Giardini di Augusto, founded by Emperor Augustus, in whitewashed, cinematically pretty Capri Town, or swimming among the ruins of a Roman villa at beach club Bagni di Tiberio.

You can visit Capri on a daytrip from Naples or Sorrento, but it’s wise to stay longer. Visit in the shoulder seasons (spring and autumn) when the island is less swamped and room rates are more affordable.

Getting there: SNAV or Caremar hydrofoils regularly breeze over to Capri from Naples; the journey takes around 45 minutes.

6. Isole Pontine

Best for a day trip from Rome

Sprinkled off the south coast of Lazio, these volcanic islets are one of Rome’s great escapes in peak season, when they heave with day trippers and holidaymakers. Beyond Italian shores though, they remain something of a secret. If you sensibly avoid the summer rush, you’ll soon be smitten by their Roman ruins, craggy coastlines indented with caves, turquoise coves where the water is stained-glass clear, and ultra-fresh seafood served at waterfront terraces.

You’ll undoubtedly arrive on the biggest island of the lot, Ponza, with the kind of harbor that hoovers up Instagram likes with its riot of fresco-colored houses and bobbing fishing boats. Go for a swim off Spiaggia di Frontone, a cliff-backed curve of pebbles and crystal-clear water or cruise off to the smaller neighbouring islands. One of the top tables on the island is Oresteria for a harborside lunch of freshest seafood. 

Getting there: Laziomar is among the companies running ferries from Terracina on the mainland to Ponza; the journey takes around 1½ hours. Otherwise, take the Navigazione Libera del Golfo hydrofoil (50 minutes).

7. Stromboli 

Best for volcanic drama

More volcano than island, Stromboli whooshes up from the cobalt-blue Tyrrhenian Sea off Sicily’s north coast in a perfect vision of conical symmetry that is utterly entrancing. Like a pebble kicked by Italy’s toe into the glittering Med, this volcanic isle is the most striking of the seven UNESCO-protected Aeolian Islands and makes a terrific base for hiking, boating and diving. 

Many visitors just come for the day – don’t make that mistake. Allow at least two or three so you can properly click into the relaxed groove and feel the old-school romance of the island that sparked an affair between Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini when they filmed Stromboli here in 1950. Flop on black-sand volcanic beaches like Ficogrande, leap into crystal waters and stomp up to the volcano’s smoking crater to catch the fireworks with a reputable guide like Magmatrek. 

Getting there: Take the summer-only SNAV hydrofoil from Naples (4½ hours) or island-hop over from one of the other Aeolian Islands with Liberty Lines.

8. Levanzo

Best for peace and quiet

But a speck on the map off the west coast of Sicily, Levanzo is worth more than a cursory glance. One of the three main Egadi Islands, this islet is wild, mountainous and thrillingly off the radar. Cliffs rise sheer and rugged above secluded pebbly bays washed by a sea of pure aquamarine, and trails whip around the rocky coast, past fragrant maquis and pine, to lighthouse-topped Capo Grosso at the island’s northern tip. Peaceful and relaxed, dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing) really comes into its own here. 

The clincher? Boarding a boat to zip along the coast to the island’s unmissable Grotta del Genovese. Embedded deep in sheer limestone cliffs, this cave hides an incredible stash of prehistoric rock art, with walls dancing with depictions of hunters, horses, oxen and fish (including the tuna the island is still famous for). Dating to the Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic eras, the engravings and paintings are around 10,000 to 12,000 years old. 

Getting there: Liberty Lines runs a speedy year-round hydrofoil service between Levanzo and Trapani (25 minutes).