Ustica

Ustica is the name of a small island, about 9 km across, situated 52 km north of Capo Gallo , Italy. Roughly 1400 people live there. There is regular ferry service from the island to Palermo, Italy.

History

The island has been populated since about 1500 BC by Phoenician peoples. In ancient Greece, the Island was named Osteodes (ossuary) in memory of the thousands of Carthaginian mutaneers left there to die of hunger in the 4th century BC. The Romans renamed the island Ustica, Latin for burnt, for its black rocks.

In the 6th century, a Benedictine community settled in the island, but was soon forced to move because of ongoing wars between Europeans and Arabs. Attempts to colonize the island in the Middle Ages failed because of raids by Barbary pirates. Until the 1950s, Ustica was used as an island prison, though it is now a tourist attraction.

Environment

Ustica is home of the honeybee Apis mellifera sicula.

Flight 870 Crash

The island became infamous on June 27, 1980, when Itavia Flight 870 crashed off the island, known to many as the Ustica disaster.