Pantelleria: Italy's secret island
Although it’s about to be immortalised on our cinema screens as the location of A Bigger Splash, starring Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes, the island of Pantelleria is one of the Mediterranean’s least-known holiday spots. Little more than a black speck in the sea between Sicily and Tunisia – the 'black pearl of the Mediterranean’ – this rugged and sparsely populated volcanic outcrop, with terraced slopes giving way to wild, herby scrub, is the hideaway of a few shy celebrities such as Giorgio Armani and Luca Zingarelli (alias Inspector Montalbano), who both own villas here. However, it has never attracted a mass market.
No doubt this is largely because Pantelleria is not a destination for beach-lovers. Swimming is mostly off rocks; the island’s only “beach” is inland, and it’s made of mu...