This small island off the Tyrrhenian coast between Rome and Naples is a local, very pleasant and low-key vacation destination, just as it was for the Romans two thousand years ago.

And before them and since? Volsci, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Libyans, Egyptians, Anatolians, and Canaanites, Moors, Spanish, French, . . pretty much everyone in the area has at one point or another been here.

They’ve used it for all sorts of purposes too . . . mining, vacationing, Saracen raiding base, fish farming, as an ancient shipping and cargo port, a penal colony, a religious center, etc. etc.

Why go? Besides the pretty phenomenal fish restaurants, the island has unlimited, picture perfect, isolated rocky coves to sail into and enjoy all day. Oh, and supposedly there are the quite a few ruins too . . except if anyone manages to see any then let the rest of us know. For some reason you just never manage to get around to it . . .