The best Italian islands to visit in 2026

Think of Italian islands and most likely Sardinia and Sicily spring to mind. Beyond the coasts of these megastars, you’ll find quiet countryside villages, as well as over 400 smaller, little-known isles — from the Tuscan Islands to the Tremiti archipelago off the coast of Puglia — making up Italy’s rich, diverse Mediterranean cache. Some of the finest spots are visited almost solely by Italians, and in the quieter shoulder seasons, only the small resident populations are left. come in quieter spring or autumn, outside their holidays, and you may be lucky enough to experience a sliver of authentic local life.

Pantelleria

This Sicilian isle feels plucked from imagination. Closer to Tunisia — which on clear days appears on the horizon — than mainland Italy, it has brooding black cliffs, aquamarine bays and roaring winds. Early autumn is best, when the heat has mellowed, the beach-going crowds have largely departed and the harvest is in full swing. Traverse the island’s charcoal-hued hiking paths, spotting zibibbo grapes hanging from vines — trained using ancient, Unesco-listed methods — or drying slowly on racks. This process concentrates sugars and brings honeyed apricot notes, making a sweet drink like liquid gold; there are plenty of tasting rooms, including Solidea, in the north west.

(Related: This volcanic Italian island was made for wine.)

Salina

Lush and laid-back, Salina — where the three arms of the Aeolian archipelago meet, north of Sicily — flies under the radar compared to its neighbours, but not for lack of appeal. Two extinct stratovolcanos provide both good looks and prime hiking terrain, but the island is also known for the Salina caper, a registered Slow Food speciality that’s handpicked during summer dawns and preserved in sea salt. Let local guide Giuseppe la Malfa walk you through flourishing plants, followed by a tasting that showcases the bud’s intensely tangy, floral profile. Later, dine at hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant Signum, where chef Martina Caruso incorporates the ingredient into diverse gourmet dishes. Caper ice cream, anyone?

Stromboli 

Cloaked in an eruptive haze for the past two millennia or more, Stromboli in northern Sicily’s Aeolian archipelago is one of the world’s few continuously active volcanoes. There are just around 500 permanent residents on the namesake island, where peaceful villages at the mountain’s foot offer boutique accommodation in cubic white houses. Many visitors come for the volcanic hiking trails, at their best in spring and autumn, and preferably tackled with a certified guide who can give access to otherwise-restricted areas. Alternatively, sunset cruises anchor by the island’s ‘stream of fire’, giving visitors the opportunity to watch glowing rocks tumble towards the sea under a star-filled sky. 

Procida 

When Neapolitans want to escape for a summer weekend, they set their sights on this artsy island less than an hour’s ferry ride from the city. One of the main filming locations of the 1994 Italian classic Il Postino, it was named Italy’s Capital of Culture in 2022 and retains a creative air. The main draw is perhaps the fishing village of Marina Corricella, where candy-coloured houses tumble down a hillside. Elsewhere, Palazzo d’Avalos is a converted 16th-century palace and later prison that now hosts a contemporary gallery, while artist Danilo Pistone has painted electrical power substations around the island with eclectic murals. 

Favignana  

Cast off Sicily’s west coast, Favignana draws high-season summer visitors for its stunner of a beach, Cala Rossa, fringed in Maldivian-shaded shallows. But shoulder season gives opportunities to dive into rich local traditions, which include tufa stone quarrying and tuna fishing. Once one of the largest tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean, the local Florio complex has been transformed into a time-warp museum with 1970s machinery, canning tins, nets and other items once used for the mattanza (tuna harvest). At the other end of the site, Camparia is a modern lifestyle hub with restaurant, art space and open-air lounge.  

Ponza 

Some of Italy’s isles are best seen from the water, including the Pontine Islands off Lazio, lined with dramatic rockfaces and hidden grottoes. On Ponza — increasingly popular with privacy-seeking high-net-worth travellers — Chiaia di Luna (Moon Beach) is a perfect crescent backdropped by 100-metre-high white rock. Due to crowds, mooring in high summer can be tricky, but charter a skippered boat through operators such as Sailogy in June or September and you’ll find it’s far quieter. With your own vessel, you can also visit nature reserves like Palmarola island; a system of tunnels carved into the coastline at Grotte di Pilato; and Roman-era Porto Vecchio on nearby Ventotene. 

Ischia  

From the ancient Greeks to 1950s Italian film producer Angelo Rizzoli, Mediterraneans have revelled in the thermal waters of volcanic Ischia for 3,000 years. Visitors to this larger isle off Naples come for landmark attractions like Forio’s Poseidon Gardens, a pinnacle of chic mid-century thermal bathing, as well as rawer spots such as Sorgeto Bay, a natural cove where bracing Tyrrhenian seawater mingles with bubbling thermal springs. When paired with hikes up Mount Epomeo, a dormant volcanic peak, and tours of wineries pouring zippy whites, a visit in September becomes a wellness all-rounder.

(Related: How to plan a wellness weekend in Ischia.)

Caprera 

The entirety of the Maddalena archipelago, sprayed off northeastern Sardinia, is a protected national park — and little wonder given the neon waters, sun-bleached rockfaces and icing-sugar shores. Budelli is famed for its pale-pink sands, but treading on it is banned. For a place to lay a towel, head to Santa Maria, with many family homes, or wild Spargi, accessible by private boat. Caprera, connected to the main island of La Maddalena by a 600-metre bridge, has pine forests and electric-blue coves. To visit protected highlights such as Cala Coticcio and Cala Brigantina, you’ll need a ticket (there’s a 60-person per-day limit) and, in some cases, a certified hiking guide. 

Alicudi

No cars, no paved roads, no public street lighting, and local donkeys or mules for taxis. That’s what you’ll get on this proudly rustic Aeolian isle, dominated by a photogenic roundel of extinct volcano. You’re here mostly for serenity, nature and challenge — even reaching the local school requires climbing some 350 steps from from the port, itself little more than a few small hotels and a single bar, L’Airone. Filo dell’Arpa, the island’s 675-metre peak, is accessed via steep, moderately challenging paths up terraced hillsides.

Elba 

Smaller than Sicily and Sardinia but larger than any other Italian isle, Elba is the Goldilocks of holiday islands. Napoleon Bonaparte’s 1814 exile spot, it’s crowned with two elegant villas built by the former French emperor. There’s also a cabinovia (open-air cable car) up granite Monte Capanne, characterful port towns and vineyards producing sweet red passito wine. The winds are stubborn and locals pick their beaches accordingly, heading to the smooth pebbles of Spiaggia di Sansone or the golden stretches of Cavoli depending on how it’s blowing. Avid snorkellers, meanwhile, routinely head west to Pomonte, where 12 metres below the surface the Elviscot shipwreck awaits amid gliding fish. 

Palmaria  

Barely severed from mainland Liguria, Isola Palmaria — the largest and only accessible island in the La Spezia archipelago — is reached by a five-minute ferry ride. It’s a minimal extra step in effort, but one that ensures its hiking paths are substantially quieter than those in the nearby Cinque Terre. The network of trails includes Il Giro dell’Isola, a four-mile moderate loop around the island, partly along dirt roads. Take the route anticlockwise; it culminates in a bird’s eye view over the surrounding Gulf of Poets and the coastal town of Portovenere, with the colourful houses characteristic of the Italian Riviera.  

San Pietro  

Windswept and rugged, carpeted in pine forest and with soaring basalt cliffs, Sardinia’s Sulcis archipelago remains far under the tourist radar. From summer until October, you can spot rare Eleonora’s falcons nesting as you hike along Capo Sandalo — the island’s westernmost point, topped with a 19th-century lighthouse — or around the northern Cala Fico rockfaces. Near Carloforte, the sole island town, saltworks host colonies of bird species including greater flamingos, while surrounding waters teem with bluefin tuna, bottlenose dolphins and loggerhead turtles, all of which can be spotted from the coast. 

Capraia 

Capraia is one of seven islands in the Tuscan Archipelago, but the only one of volcanic origin. Its cliffs of red and charcoal-grey rock rise abruptly from the Tyrrhenian Sea, giving it a craggy character unlike any of its neighbours. Despite its quirks, it remains richly Mediterranean: much of it is cloaked in a maquis of myrtle, wild mint and helichrysum, a plant with a warm, curry-like aroma widely used in Capraiese cuisine. In recent years, a determined community of artisanal producers have started making the most of this natural bounty. Come to taste small-batch herb-infused honey, spicy red wines and award-winning goat’s cheese. 

San Domino  

Italy’s only island group in the southern Adriatic, the Tremiti archipelago off the Apulian coast is a protected marine reserve. San Domino is the unofficial capital — where most ferries from the mainland dock — and one of two inhabited outposts. Sponges, mollusc and varied fish species can be spotted with little more than a mask and snorkel, while black coral and underwater archaeological sites — from 2,000-year-old shipwrecks to Second World War bombers — provide a challenge for keen divers. You’ll find numerous dive centres for excursions or courses; nearby San Nicola — linked by ferry services — has a historical fortified village as well as Italy’s only cathedral found in the middle of the sea.