Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Located in Italy’s Tuscan archipelago, Isola di Capraia seems to be a great starting point for marathon swimmers.

As the northwesternmost of the seven islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, Capraia is 30 km (19 miles) to the island of Corsica, 32 km (20 miles) to the island of Elba, 40 km (25 miles) to the island of Gorgona, and 62 km (39 miles) from Livorno.

With a 30 km (19 mile) coastline, a circumnavigation swim would take a swimmer about 8 km (5 miles) from Punta della Teglia to Punta dello Zenobio and another 4 km (2 miles) across the island that is part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park and a marine sanctuary.

Between 1873 to 1986 a penal colony occupied almost two-thirds of Capraia. In 1986 the penal colony was closed and opened to visitors…and potentially to open water swimmers wanting to do a prison island swim.

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