Page 471 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

harbour, with a breezy upper terrace that affords a bird’s-eye view of the port.

There’s a summer salad menu for lunch, as well as a choice of classic fish and
seafood dishes, from spaghetti with clams to marinated tuna with wild fennel (primi
€7–12, secondi €15–20). Daily lunch & dinner; closed mid-Oct to May.

DIRECTORY

Banks There are banks and ATMs along Via Roma.

Hospital Via Grecale, Lampedusa town ( 0922 970 604).

Pharmacy Dottore Inglisa, Via Vittorio Emanuele 35 (Mon–Sat 9am–12.45pm & 5–

7.30pm, Sun 10am–noon & 6–7.30pm; 0922 970 195).

Police Carabinieri, Via Roma 37 ( 0922 970 001 or 112).

Post office Piazza Piave, Lampedusa town (Mon–Fri 8am–1.30pm, Sat 8am–
12.30pm).

Linosa

Fifty kilometres north of Lampedusa, and easily visitable as a day-trip by hydrofoil,
Linosa is basically the tip of a submerged volcano, with four extinct craters and some
lava beaches to explore, and not much else in the way of actual sights. It’s much
smaller than Lampedusa (just five square kilometres), and the only village has just a

few hundred inhabitants, rather fewer cars and a minimal road system. Until the advent
of tourism, the only time the tranquillity was disturbed was when the government in
Rome sent their latest star Mafia prisoner to be detained on the island’s prison
pending trial, a practice suspended since the holiday trade picked up. Some Italian
families come here year after year, revelling in the peace and quiet. If you take the

tracks that lead away from the brightly coloured houses on either side of the port, you
can clamber around the cliffs and coves, and reach a couple of black-sand beaches
with crystal-clear water. Swimming and diving here are, of course, fantastic, and there
are all sorts of dive trips, courses and excursions on offer. Don’t expect the island to
be fully up and running until July, and be prepared for things to be winding down in
September – arrive in May and you could easily be the only tourist.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: LINOSA

By ferry and hydrofoil Linosa is only an hour from Lampedusa by Ustica Lines
hydrofoil. There are two or three departures a day, the first at 7.30am or 8am, leaving

six days a week (not Mon or Tues, depending on the service) from April to October
and four days a week (not Tues, Thurs or Sun) from November to March; one-way
tickets are around €20. The Siremar ferry is cheaper (around €15), leaving Lampedusa