Isola dei Conigli

Along the southwestern side of Lampedusa, a few meters from the coast there is the famous Island of Rabbits.

The island owes its origin to the incessant and to the impetuous effects of the exogenous agents that over time have shaped and separated from the nearby coast of Lampedusa. As evidence of this were found remains of man-made constructions for the collection of water or ancient tombs and pottery of various periods.

The Island of the Rabbits is actually modest in size, covering an area of just over 4 hectares and is located a few meters from the sea. It owes its name probably to Smith English captain who visited Lampedusa it in the early nineteenth century, and to the many rabbits who lived there, now disappeared, but that you can easily find near the coast of Lampedusa.

The northern part of the Island of Rabbits is almost connected to the coast and he repairs from southerly winds the Rabbits beach, small bay now famous around the world for the colors of its sea and its white beach.

      The islet is the kingdom of the Herring gull and of a rare lizard the Psammodromus algirus (Linnaeus, 1758), the only representative of its kind in Italy reported for the first time by Edward Zavattari in 1954.

The islet is not open to the public, because it is an integral part of the Natural Reserve of Lampedusa Island.

The Rabbits Island is one of the most beautiful places in Lampedusa and with the beach of Rabbits close to it, provides a wealth for the inhabitants of the island, of which they have become guardians over time and proud. It reaches its peak of beauty in the spring when the green vegetation, the blue of the sea and the nuances of its rocks reach the colors of Impressionism.

In the same period begins the mating season of seagulls, which ends in early summer, here in fact they nesting and is a sight to see them to the food research or to defend their territory, with great design and pirouettes in the sky.

Feast for the eyes and heart.