The Tremiti islands
Five islands twenty miles out, and a fortified abbey on one of them.
There are five Tremiti: San Domino, the largest and the only one with hotels and beaches; San Nicola, which is the historic heart of the archipelago; Capraia, uninhabited; Cretaccio, which is a lump of clay; and Pianosa, twenty kilometres from the others and closed to navigation because it is a strict reserve.
San Nicola is an island fortress: the abbey of Santa Maria a Mare, founded by the Benedictines in the eleventh century and later passed to the Cistercians and the Lateran canons, occupies the whole summit within its walls. Inside are an eleventh century floor mosaic and a Byzantine wooden crucifix. A few dozen people live there all year round.
The water
Since 1989 the sea around the archipelago has been a marine reserve, and it is one of the best known places in the Adriatic for diving: the sea bed drops sheer, the water is clear and there is a submerged statue of Padre Pio at twenty-two metres. Those who do not dive take the boat tour of the islands, stopping at the caves and the coves of San Domino.
How to get there from Vieste
In summer the hydrofoils leave Vieste harbour in the morning and return in the afternoon: an hour and a quarter of crossing, and the day on the islands lasts five or six hours, which is enough. Similar connections run from Peschici, Rodi Garganico and Manfredonia; out of season only the ferry from Termoli remains.
Cars are useless on the islands and in practice there are none: on San Domino you move on foot or by shuttle, and from San Domino to San Nicola a small boat shuttles across in five minutes.