The Green Island — volcanic thermal spas, Monte Epomeo's tuff pinnacle, and the Aragonese castle on a tidal island in the Bay of Naples
Ischia is the largest island in the Bay of Naples (46 km², population 63,000), known as the 'Green Island' for its dense vegetation — fig, lemon, and pine forests cover the volcanic slopes of Monte Epomeo (787m, the island's extinct volcano). The island is geothermally active throughout — thermal springs emerge at dozens of locations, and at Spiaggia dei Maronti you can dig in the sand to reach water at 50–60°C. The Poseidon Thermal Gardens (22 pools at varying temperatures fed by different thermal sources, gardens, beach, and restaurant) is the largest thermal spa park in Italy. The Castello…
Ischia (ancient Pithecusae) was the first Greek colony in the western Mediterranean, established by Euboean Greeks around 770 BCE — predating the founding of Rome by 23 years. The Greeks mined iron ore and used the island as a trading post between Greece and the Etruscan and Campanian mainland civilisations. The island was subsequently Neapolitan, Aragonese (the castle built in this period), and Bourbon before Italian unification. The modern thermal spa industry dates to the 18th-century Bourbon period, when the royal court of Naples patronised Ischia's waters.