Museo del Mare (Capoliveri)

Capoliveri's Sea Museum centres on the Polluce, a steamship lost off the Elban coast in June 1841. Coins, jewellery, porcelain and everyday ship fittings recovered from the wreck are displayed in the village's historic centre.

Why it matters

The steamship Polluce, sailing from Naples towards Marseille, sank off Capo Calvo near Capoliveri on the night of 17 June 1841. Its cargo of coins and passenger goods disappeared underwater. The wreck was rediscovered at the end of the twentieth century, partly looted, and later subject to a state-led recovery completed in October 2005. Opened in 2014, the museum presents the recovered material, including everyday objects that illuminate life aboard a nineteenth-century passenger ship.

What to notice

The cargo included more than ten thousand silver coins and about 250 gold ones, many of them Spanish colonial columnario coins. The ship's bronze bell was cast in 1839 by the Villain Fils foundry of Le Havre and bears the vessel's name and the founder's mark. A first-class water closet, made in England in 1839 from brass, copper and ceramic, is another distinctive object. Ship's documents, letters, table furnishings and cabin equipment complete the display; the objects were recovered between 2000 and 2005.

Context and history

Built in France in 1839, the Polluce was bought by Genoese shipping magnate Raffaele Rubattino, who operated steamer services from Genoa. The circumstances of the sinking remain only partly explained. In 2000, treasure hunters obtained a survey permit by citing a different merchant wreck but supplied the Polluce's coordinates. They raised part of the treasure before Italian authorities intervened; seized material was saved from auction abroad. A state recovery, completed in October 2005, brought the remaining cargo ashore. The exhibition, Il relitto del Polluce, opened in April 2014 in restored buildings on Via Palestro. The museum is part of the Sistema Museale dell'Arcipelago Toscano.