The tiny island of Levanzo is 6 sqm, and is covered by beautiful hills. The tallest, Pizzo dei Monaco (278m) ends at the sea.

Only one road bisects the island from south to north, making it a veritable haven of peace and serenity, beloved by nature-lovers and those who seek solitude and rhythms set by the breaking waves or by the sound of ones own feet on the stones.

The northern part of the island consists of a succession of sheer drops, rocky outcrops and secluded little creeks. Between Levanzo and the coast of Sicily lie two minute islets: Maraone and Formica (on which there are the remains of an old tuna fishery).

Cala Dogana The only hamlet on Levanzo overlooks a bay of the clearest water on the south side of the island. From here, a well-kept path snakes its way to the bays that open out along the southwestern coast, each tightly embracing its very own miniature pebbled beach, as far as the Faraglione (a large rock).

Grotta del Genovese Accessible on foot (approx 2hr there and back), by jeep and then on foot along a steep slope, or by sea. Discovered in 1949, this excavated hollow in the side of a tall cliff bears traces of prehistoric man. Vestiges of wall-painting have been identified as dating from the Upper Palaeolithic era, while the incised drawings may be from the Neolithic period. The graffiti drawings, completed at a time when the island was still attached to the island of Sicily, represent a bison and a deer of the most pleasing proportions, elegance and foreshortening.

The charcoal and animal fat paintings represent early attempts at fishing (both tuna and dolphins are discernible), animal husbandry (a woman leads a cow with a halter) and ritual images of men dancing and women with wide hips. These paintings are compatible with the Franco-Cantabrian cave paintings of Lascaux in southwest France and Altamira in Spain.