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The Legend
“It was the year 1534, the coasts of Elba
were plundered by the pirate Barbarossa
and his Saracens, but two young lovers like Lorenzo e Maria didn’t
care so much.
That afternoon, on the 14 July, Lorenzo came earlier on the beach.
Maria from the top of the path was looking for her lover but she saw
a crew of pirates unshipping from a dinghy...
Helpless she saw the furious fight that started; Lorenzo
fought with honour, but exhausted, he had
been imprisoned.
Maria ran toward the beach just in time to see the ship of the pirates
leaving and throwing a body in the sea. Recognizing her lover in that
body, Maria let herself fall down in the water, in a last desperate
impulse of love."
It is this fishermen’s story that the beach took his name “INNAMORATA”
(girl in love) from. Each year on the 14 July, Maria’s love for
Lorenzo, gets celebrated.
At night the beach gets illuminated by thousand of torches, the bells
of the church tell the torchlight procession is starting; the four
wards Baluardo (bulwark),
Fortezza (fortress),
Fosso (pit) and Torre (tower)
parade trough the streets of the town, leaded by the nobles and count
Domingo Cardenas and his wife Isabel Martorčl.
 The
procession moves to the beach of Innamorata, where Maria dives from
the rocks, looking for Lorenzo. As the legend tells, she leaves the
shawl on the rocks.
The four wards have a rowing competition. Who first takes the shawl,
wins, and he is allowed to designate the girl that will be Maria the
year after.
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ISOLA
D'ELBA
