Photo credit: Alamy via BBC
The Italian island immediately conjures up grand bougainvillea-draped villas and a whitewashed city centre, lined by luxury boutiques. But that’s – literally – only half of the story.
“Bring water,” they said when I announced I’d be hiking the Sentiero dei Fortini (Trail of Little Forts). “There’s nothing out there.”
The six-kilometre cliffside path linking the remains of three 19th-Century Bourbon military outposts was my fourth hike on this craggy Mediterranean island. Somewhere along the rocky, wild rosemary-flocked path while dodging spiky prickly pears, I realised that I’d only seen one other human in two hours. And there were indeed no water sources, aside from a rustic fountain I’d encountered a kilometre back at Fort Mèsola.