Lampedusa: Rabbit Beach

Further south than Tunisia from Sicily, Lampedusa guards one of the world's most award-winning beaches alongside a prominent role in the recent history of Mediterranean migration.

A rental car or scooter remains useful for reaching more distant beaches from the port.

Reachable only on foot along a short descent, Rabbits Beach, voted several times among the most beautiful in the world, also protects a nesting site for loggerhead sea turtles.

In the city harbor, the Gateway to Europe, a sculpture dedicated to migrants lost in the Mediterranean, recalls the island's role as the first landing point for those crossing the sea from North Africa.

Continuing along the coast you reach Cala Pulcino Bay, isolated coves reachable only on foot or by boat, among the most tranquil on the island.

Toward evening, a boat excursion around the Rabbits Island allows you to observe up close the transparent waters protected as a natural reserve.

Loggerhead sea turtles choose Rabbit Beach specifically for the absence of artificial lighting and vehicular traffic on the sand.

The Gateway to Europe, facing the sea from which migrant boats arrive, has over time become a place of remembrance visited not only by beachgoers but also by international institutional delegations.