The Count of Monte Cristo's Island Tour Quiz

Answer: Elba

Located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of the Tuscan provinces of Livorno and Grosseto, the Tuscan Archipelago (Arcipelago Toscano) consists of seven major islands (Gorgona, Capraia, Elba, Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio and Giannutri), and a number of smaller ones. With a surface area of 224 km² 86 sq mi), the island of Elba is the largest of them, as well as the third-largest island in Italy besides Sicily and Sardinia. This beautiful, rugged island - inhabited since the Palaeolithic - attracts many visitors every year with its gorgeous beaches, secluded coves and wooded hills, not to mention its excellent food and wine. However, Elba is known to history buffs as the site where Napoleon Bonaparte spent his ten-month exile (May 1814 - February 1815), following his defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition. In Portoferraio, the island's largest town (whose harbour is shown in the photo, and whose name references the rich iron deposits that once existed on the island), the two villas where the emperor resided are open to the public.

The fourth-largest of the major Tuscan islands, Monte Cristo (which is part of the Portoferraio municipality) lies directly south of Elba. This mountainous island is now a protected nature reserve, home to a number of rare plant and animal species, such as the Montecristo goat. A limited number of tourists is allowed on the island every year, but staying overnight is not permitted. The only permanent inhabitants of the island are two nature reserve keepers, who are joined by two agents of the State Forests Corps, alternating in 2-week shifts. Elba, Monte Cristo and the other islands of the Tuscan Archipelago are part of a national park established in 1996.

In Alexandre Dumas père's famous novel (published between 1844 and 1846), the protagonist, Edmond Dantès, finds a treasure on the island after escaping from prison, and assumes the identity of Count of Monte Cristo in order to wreak his vengeance on those who had wronged him.

None of the three incorrect choices is an Italian island: Minorca is one of the Balearic Islands, Ithaca is one of the Greek Ionian islands, and Barra is one of the Outer Hebrides (Scotland).

Answer: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Located off the northeastern coast of Sardinia, just south of the Straits of Bonifacio that separate Sardinia from Corsica, the Maddalena Archipelago (named after its largest island) comprises 62 islands, only two of them inhabited (La Maddalena and Caprera); it was declared a national park in 1994. Caprera (a name probably meaning "goat island", from the numerous wild goats that live there) is the group's second-largest island, linked to La Maddalena by a causeway. For all the beauty of its scenery and crystalline waters, the sparsely-populated island is mostly known as the place where Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of the "Risorgimento" (the movement that led to Italian unification in 1861), made his home from 1856 until his death. The general, who had spent 14 years in South America when younger, built his house, the Casa Bianca, in the style of a South American "fazenda", and there lived the life of a farmer in the company of his children. Garibaldi died on 2 June 1882, and is buried behind the house in a simple grave made of rough granite (shown in the photo). The Casa Bianca and its grounds are now a museum, property of the Italian state, which receives many visitors every year.

South of the Maddalena Archipelago lies another small island group, the Tavolara Archipelago, also a protected marine reserve.

All the incorrect answers are notable Italian personalities, though none of them had anything to do with Italian reunification: Dante and Machiavelli were writers, and Volta a scientist.

Answer: donkey

Located off the northwestern tip of Sardinia, the craggy island of Asinara is part of the municipality of Porto Torres. "Asinara" means "donkey island" in Italian: it is quite likely that the island was named after its endemic population of small, wild albino donkeys. Covered by the shrub vegetation typical of the Mediterranean region, the island has been inhabited since the Neolithic, though at present only a handful of people live there in the village of Cala d'Oliva.

For over a century, Asinara was used as a place of detention - first a penal colony, then a prison camp, and finally as the site of one of Italy's maximum-security prisons - and was inaccessible to the general public. This "Italian Alcatraz" was actually even more secure than the famed prison in San Francisco Bay, as only one person was able to escape from it in 112 years. The prison was closed at the end of 1997, and the island declared a national park. Construction is forbidden, and tourism is strictly regulated to preserve the island's unique environment, which is home to a large number of bird species and a thriving marine life, especially cetaceans. The rare Mediterranean monk seal is extinct on the island, though specimens have been sighted in other parts of the Italian coast.

Other isolated islands are scattered around the coast of Sardinia. Another island group, the Sulcis Archipelago, is located off the southwestern coast of the island; its two largest islands, Sant'Antioco and San Pietro, are Italy's fourth- and sixth-largest.

Answer: Lazio

A group of islands of volcanic origin (like almost everything else in that area), the Pontine Islands, or Isole Ponziane (Ponza, Ventotene, Santo Stefano, Palmarola, Zannone and Gavi) are a very popular summer destination for those who live in the densely populated Lazio region of Italy, of which the archipelago is part (though geographically closer to Campania). Ponza is the largest of the six islands, which have been inhabited for thousands of years, probably since the Neolithic period. In Roman and more recent times, the islands - especially Ventotene, which faces Gaeta (home to a NATO naval base) directly across the sea - were used as a place of exile for troublesome people, including relatives of some Roman emperors. Of the six islands, only Ponza and Ventotene are inhabited. The clear waters off the islands, teeming with many fish and crustacean species, are favoured by scuba divers; the Pontine Islands are also a favourite destination for yachting and sailing.

The photo shows the harbour of the town of Ponza, where most of the Pontine Islands' population is concentrated.

Abruzzo and Apulia's coasts are on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, which lie to the east of the boot-shaped peninsula.

Answer: Ischia

Though Capri is by far the most famous of the islands in the Gulf of Naples, it is not part of the group known as the Isole Flegree (Phlaegrean Islands), which includes Ischia, Procida, Vivara and Nisida. In fact, unlike the Phlaegrean Islands, Capri is not of volcanic origin, but made of sandstone and limestone.

Located at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, southeast of Ventotene (Q. 4), Ischia is more than four times as large as Capri, and quite densely populated, as about 70,000 people live there. The island offers a lot to its visitors: not only the beautiful beaches one would expect, but also noteworthy historic buildings (such as the scenic Aragonese Castle shown in the photo), lush gardens and vineyards, and the internationally renowned thermal baths, already appreciated in Greek and Roman times. Ischia is also quite popular as a film location: among others, parts of Joseph Mankiewicz's "Cleopatra" (1963) and Anthony Minghella's "The Talented Mr Ripley" (1999) were filmed there.

The three wrong answers are all cities on the Italian mainland. The bone mentioned in the question is "ischium", which is part of the hip; this word and Ischia's name are not related.

Answer: Stromboli

Named after Aeolus, the Greek god of winds, the Aeolian Islands lie in the Tyrrhenian Sea, north of the northwestern coast of Sicily. The seven volcanic islands that comprise this group (Alicudi, Filicudi, Salina, Lipari, Vulcano, Panarea and Stromboli) are arranged in a sort of Y shape, with Stromboli at the westernmost end. Though volcanic phenomena occur on most of the islands, Stromboli and Vulcano (the southernmost island) are home to very active volcanoes. The striking cone of Stromboli (from a Greek word meaning "round") is visible from various points of the Sicilian and Calabrian coast; being constantly active, it has been nicknamed the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean". Stromboli, like the other Aeolian Islands, is a popular tourist destination, especially for people who like unspoiled nature and peaceful surroundings. Lipari, the largest of the islands, is also the one that welcomes the most people during the summer season. The clear waters around the islands are a diving paradise, but this beautiful archipelago also offers opportunities for trekking and other nature-related activities, as well as plenty of historic monuments to visit.

Besides the culinary use of its name by Italian-Americans (a "stromboli" is a kind of calzone, or pizza turnover), the fiery volcanic island of Stromboli has left its mark on popular culture. Stromboli is the name of the villainous puppet-master in Walt Disney's rendition of "Pinocchio"; it also seems likely that the mountain was the inspiration for Mount Doom in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". A famous 1950 movie by Roberto Rossellini, "Stromboli: Land of God", starring Ingrid Bergman, is also set on the island.

Another small but beautiful archipelago, the Aegadian Islands (Isole Egadi), lies off the western coast of Sicily.

Of the incorrect answers, Surtsey (Iceland) and Santorini (Greece) are active volcanic islands, while Solimana is an extinct volcanic massif in Peru.

Answer: Tunisia

The largest of the volcanic islands found off the Sicilian coast, Pantelleria lies in the middle of the Sicilian Strait (Canale di Sicilia), 100 km (62 mi) from the southern coast of Sicily, and 60 km (37 mi) from the Tunisian coast, which is visible from the island on clear days. To the south-east lies the sovereign nation of Malta, with which the island has many historical and cultural connections. Pantelleria has been inhabited for over 30,000 years: unfortunately, many of the historic buildings once present on the island were destroyed by Allied bombs during WWII. Being so close to North Africa, the Arabic influence is pervasive on this rugged island, as witnessed by the many place names of Semitic origin.

Even though Pantelleria's climate tends to be quite dry, especially during the hot summer months, the ingenuity of the local population has created ways to encourage agriculture. The natural features of the landscape blend with man-made elements to compensate for the scarcity of water and protect the crops from the strong winds blowing from the sea in every season. Lovers of good food and wine should not miss Pantelleria's renowned products: its heady, delicious dessert wines (Moscato and Passito di Pantelleria), and its piquant capers. The wines are made from an ancient variety of white grapes known as "zibibbo", or Muscat of Alexandria. Covered by lush Mediterranean vegetation, the island was declared a national park in 2016; among its many striking sights, there is a natural lake (shown in the photo) formed in the crater of an extinct volcano, called "Specchio di Venere" (Venus's Mirror).

None of the countries listed as incorrect choices are part of North Africa.

Answer: migration

The southernmost point of the Italian territory, the Pelagie Islands (from the Greek word "pélagos", meaning "open sea") comprise three islands - Lampedusa, Linosa, and the uninhabited Lampione. Geologically, Lampedusa and Lampione are blocks of limestone, and part of the African continent, while Linosa is of volcanic origin, and part of Europe. Pantelleria lies to the northwest, Malta to the east, and the Tunisian coast to the west. These rocky, semi-arid islands, barren of trees but covered by Mediterranean shrubland, are located in a key position between the two continental landmasses of Europe and Africa. Tourism, fishing and some agriculture are the main economic activities of the Pelagie Islands; people who enjoy unspoiled nature and crystal-clear waters teeming with marine life flock to the islands during the summer season. The famous beach of the Isola dei Conigli (Rabbit Island), off the south coast of Lampedusa, and the Pozzolana beach on Linosa are among the few remaining nesting sites of the loggerhead sea turtle in Italy.

In the past few years, Lampedusa, the largest of the three islands, has become one of the primary entry points for migrants trying to get into Europe from Libya, which lies directly south of the island. An immigrant reception centre has been operating on Lampedusa since 1998, often hosting much larger numbers of people than it was originally planned to handle. In 2013, a shipwreck off the coast of the island claimed the lives of over 300 people, and in the intervening years many more have died trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya. For the role of the local population in welcoming and helping migrants (in many cases victims of smugglers), Lampedusa has been awarded a number of honours, and was also nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

The photo shows Lampedusa's gorgeous bay of Tabaccara, surrounded by high cliffs.

Answer: earthquake

Over 1,300 islands are found in the Adriatic Sea, but most of them belong to Croatia. The Isole Tremiti, or Diomedee, are the only island group in the Adriatic that belongs to Italy; they include the two larger, inhabited islands of San Nicola and San Domino, and the uninhabited Pianosa and Capraia (which share the same name as two islands in the Tuscan Archipelago). The islands, part of the province of Foggia, in northern Apulia, lie north of the Gargano promontory (the "spur" of the Italian peninsula); the islands and the promontory form a national park, established in 1991. Like other islands in Italy and elsewhere, the Tremiti Islands were once used as a place of confinement; now they are an important tourist destination, offering some of the whole country's best beaches in terms of water quality. This photo of one of the many coves on the island of San Domino shows the pristine clarity of the sea, framed by lush Mediterranean pine woods and shrubs.

In some etymologies, the archipelago's official name of "Tremiti" (from the verb "tremare", related to the English "tremor") refers to the origin of the islands, broken off the mainland by an earthquake; others maintain that the name means "three parts". The alternative name "Diomedee" refers instead to Diomedes, one of the Greek heroes of the Trojan War, who, according to the myth, created the islands by throwing three boulders coming from Troy into the sea. Scopoli's shearwater, a species of seabird that nests on the islands' cliffs, bears the scientific name of Calonectris diomedea, as according to another myth Diomedes' companions were turned into seabirds after the king's death.

Answer: Venetian Lagoon

With a surface area of about 550 km² (212 sq mi), the Venetian Lagoon (which is technically part of the Adriatic Sea, though separated from it by two barrier islands and a strip of land) contains the largest group of islands on the Italian territory - between 60 and 70. Some islands are artificial, while others have been reclaimed by drainage. The historic city of Venice is the largest (though actually a group of 118 small islands), followed by Sant'Erasmo (an important agricultural centre) and Murano. The latter, located north-east of Venice, is internationally famous for its glassworks, which have existed there since the end of the 13th century, when they were moved from Venice to Murano because of the ever-present risk of fires in a city whose buildings were mostly made of wood. Visitors to Murano will also be able to admire the magnificent Romanesque cathedral and other historic buildings.

The much smaller island of Burano lies north-east of Murano. Together with its brightly-coloured houses (shown in the photo), Burano's main claim to fame is its tradition of lacemaking, which began in the 16th century. Burano lace is crafted using needle and thread, and is extremely complex and time-consuming to make (and accordingly very expensive). North of Burano lies the island of Torcello, renowned for its two stunning early Christian churches.

Some of the smaller islands are home to beautiful convents; the island of San Michele, between Venice and Murano, houses the city's cemetery, where Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and American poet Ezra Pound are buried. The barrier island of Lido, on the Adriatic Sea, hosts the Venice Film Festival in late August/early September of every year. The whole of the Venetian Lagoon was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

The Gulf of Genoa and the Corsica Channel are located in the Tyrrhenian Sea; the Strait of Otranto connects the Adriatic and the Ionian Seas, separating Italy from Albania.