Montecristo: Island of Nature, Stories, and Empires

This island is more than just the location in Alexandre Dumas’s famous book, “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

The ruins of a monastery on a hill of the Italian island of Montecristo, July 8, 2004. Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty Images

“Monte Cristo, do not forget Monte Cristo!” were the last words of the dying priest to the wrongfully imprisoned Edmond Dantes in Alexandre Dumas’s famous work The Count of Monte Cristo.

Like much of the setting and cultural references in the classic novel, Dumas’s pivotal island was real and continues perhaps as elusive now as it was then to the imprisoned Dantes and his companion Abbe Faria.

In 1844, Alexandre Dumas started the serialization of The Count of Monte Cristo. The book would make the island of Montecristo world famous. But the story gave little description of the namesake island, and its history remains unknown to most readers.

In the book, protagonist Edmund Dantes travels to the island to search for treasure, hidden there long ago by a wealthy cardinal. He describes the small island, only about 10 square kilometers in size, as a giant, stone cone sticking 645 meters out of the Tyrrhenian Sea, wild, untouched, and mysterious.

Contrary to the book’s claim of Montecristo being unused by humans, the island of Montecristo has an ancient history of human use though it was deserted by Dumas’s time.

History

The island of Montecristo, about 40 miles from Tuscany, is now an Italian State Nature Reserve.

Use of the island stretches back to the Iron Age, around 9th century B.C. when the Etruscans visited the island to extract timber. The Greeks gave Montecristo its first name, Oglasa, after the yellowish rocks on the island. The Romans would name it Mons Jovis, or Mount Jupiter. They set up granite quarries and an altar to Jupiter on the island.

Sometime in the 5th century A.D., the island caves became occupied by Christian hermits fleeing the marauding Vandals on the mainland. Saint Mamilian of Palermo came to reside there for a period of time after escaping slavery. He renamed the island Montecristo, or “Christ’s Mountain.” He took up hermitage in a cave on the island which has since been named “Saint’s Grotto.”

Legend says that St. Mamilian killed an evil dragon that watched over the island, and in the spot of its death a spring burst forth from the ground.

The Monastery of St. Mamilian was built in the 7th century for the resident hermits. Over the years, donations from wealthy families and the Church caused the monastery to become rich. The origin of the treasure Dantes sought on the island was likely based on the old monastery’s wealth.

In 1553, the Ottoman pirate Dragut seized the island, enslaved the monks, and put an end to the nearly thousand year old monastery. The island remained mostly uninhabited for centuries. It was finally made a State Nature Reserve in 1971.

In 2012, the Italian government conducted an aerial bombardment of the island with rat poison. The population of black rats, which have been on the island since at least the Roman era, had increased to the point of being a danger to the native bird populations.

An Italian forest guard watches the coast from a hill of Montecristo Island, July 8, 2004. Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty Images

Montecristo’s Treasure

Ironically, some of the greatest treasures today are not those made or found by people but those untouched by them. Such is the case with the legendary island of Montecristo.

Because Montecristo gained State Natural Reserve status in 1971 and a Biogenetic Natural Reserve status by the European Council in 1988, the island has retained much of its original Mediterranean plants and animals. The island is covered in native bushes and shrubs, especially heather, rosemary, cistus, and helichrysum. A few oaks managed to avoid ancient saws. Trees that are thousands of years old can be found at the summit.

Many rare and endangered species live on Montecristo, and migratory birds have made the island a nesting ground or stopping place. Notably, the critically endangered Yelkouan Shearwater. Many other birds, including seagulls, various Mediterranean seabirds, kestrels, and the occasional Golden Eagle can be seen on the island.

Wild sheep—misidentified as wild goats by Dumas—from the Middle East called Mouflons call the island home, as well as the rare Sardinian discoglossid frog and a subspecies of the common wall lizard exclusive to the island. Boats and fishing are forbidden within a kilometer of the shore, so the surrounding water ecosystem is bursting with life. Seagrass meadows, coral reefs, whales, and other ocean life flourish.

An Italian forest guard watches the coast of the famous Montecristo Island from a boat on July 8, 2004. Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty Images

Visiting

The European Union set a limit on visitors every year to just 1,000 people in order to prevent damage to the island’s environment. However, most people would have to compete for 1 of 400 spots, since 600 of the 1000 are reserved for students. Researchers and naturalists are given priority for the spots as well. Even to visit the island requires being part of a group of at least 40 people. Prospective visitors also have to ask the local police branch for permission. The wait time to visit the island is currently three years.

On the island, you are not allowed to swim in the water, and you may only follow three trails that go into the mountains. The visitor’s website warns that trails are steep and tiring, with little shade.

The island is mountainous and rocky, characterized by rocky cliffs and its three peaks. Because of the jagged and cliff-plagued shores, the only possible place to dock a boat is the Cala Maestra bay, on the western side of the island.

Visiting is only allowed between April 1-15, and Aug. 31 to Oct. 31, so as to not interfere with the migratory birds.