At only 15 kilometers from Portoferraio, Porto Azzurro is a good parlour of Elba where hill-houses in pastel colors frame the harbor that recently has rendered the remainders of an ancient Roman mill. Porto Azzurro is the heart of the islands' worldly pleasures that take place around the lively piazza Matteotti and also offers interesting possibilities of excursions in the village' immediate vicinity. It is certainly well worth visiting the Fortresses San Giacomo and Del Focardo, built in the 17:th century by the Spanish, as well as the Sanctuary della Madonna del Monserrato that can be reached by taking on to the road to Rio nell'Elba. A visit at the Piccola Miniera, along the road to Rio Marina, can be very interesting as it was accurately reconstructed by the former miner Emilio Giacomelli. It is a loyal copy of how the ancient mines used to be on Elba and get around with a train that takes you through the caves embellished with stalactites and stalagmites, wagons and equipment that ware used when mining. The premises built in the vicinity of Piccola Miniera display typical minerals from Elba and houses a laboratory where you can assist the lathe-processing for the transformation of raw-materials. A few kilometers from Porto Azzurro, along the road to Rio nell'Elba, you find Lake Terranera that offers a charming scenery as it is colored yellow by the sulphur from the ancient pyrite-mine, next to which it has been formed, supplied by a sweet-water spring and separated from the sea by a narrow tongue of land.