Favignana

The "butterfly on the sea" — as painter Salvatore Fiume saw it — is the largest of the Egadi, flat enough to circle by bicycle between drystone walls and sunken gardens dug into the tuff. The limestone quarries sculpted Cala Rossa and Bue Marino: mineral stage sets over water that needs no filters.

The Florio works, a cathedral of arches and chimneys by the port, tells in its museum the story of the tuna fishery that made the island rich. The mattanza is gone; what remain are tuna on the plate, bicycles at dawn and a summer smelling of salt and figs.