 The centrality of its position in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Africa has greatly influenced the complexities  and radical changes of Pantelleria's long history
since it was first settled in late prehistoric times. The volcanic nature has
instead
determined its economic bases up to the buildup of tourism in the
present. Alike other
small islands in the Mediterranean, Pantelleria was first
visited in Late Mesolithic
times, during the 6th millennium BC,
when significant developments in marine
watercraft made possible offshore
fishing expeditions and seafaring navigation.
The abundance of obsidian, mainly outcropping along its southern shores,
draw to
the island the first settlers in Neolithic times. This black, shiny
volcanic glass was the
base resource for the making of tools indespensable to
the earliest farmers around
the whole Mediterranean. From its sharp concoid
flakes were produced the ideal
blades for sickles and other tools to cut plants.
Unfortunately, only scanty, isolated
remains survive in Pantelleria of these
earliest periods, buried under later deposits.
Significant improvements of
farming and stock-breeding during the 4th and 3rd
millennia BC created the
conditions for a permanent and affluent occupation of all
Mediteranean islands.
The fertile volcanic soils covering the island became the main
source of wealth
of Pantelleria. Along with them obsidian continued to provide the
material for
all cutting tools, while vacuolar basalt was quarried to be used and
exported
for querns and millstones. By 1800 BC most of the island was occupied by
groups
of farmers akin to the Early Bronze Age Sicilian cultures. Their most
interesting remains are still visible in the Mursia area: massive
defensive walls,
foundations of old houses, overlooked by dozens of megalithic
cairn burials, locally
called 'Sesi'. The site remained occupied
for most of the 2nd millennium BC.
Sometime during the 9th century BC the island
became part of the Phoenician trade
network transecting the whole of the
Mediterranean from Lebanon to the Atlantic.
Slowly with the growth of Carthage
as the main city and market of the Central
Mediterranean, Pantelleria became
more closely related to Africa and the Semite
world. Its first name as known
from coins was Yrnm, and later was changed into
Cossyra. A
fortified Acropolis was built along the first line of hills, overlooking the
harbour whose remains are still visible at San Marco. The aridity of climate was
contrasted by efficient irrigation systems with thousands of cisterns and
watering
channels built in many parts of the islands to capture, store and
trasport the waters.
The close relation to Carthage was the beginning of the
island's golden age, and it
lasted till its destruction by the Arabs in 698 AD
and the conflict between Christians
and Muslims that has divided the
Mediterranean to the present. The people of
Pantelleria planted grapes, wheat
and many other crops for subsistence and trade.
Agriculture has remained the
backbone of the economy. The island was flourishing if
towards the end of Punic
times from the end of the 3rd century BC a mint was
established, issuing coins
with the image of Isis. A small shrine was build in this
period by
the lake 'Specchio di Venere' and remained in use during Roman times.
The Romans conquered Cossyra at the end of the first Punic war in 248 BC, but the
population remained largely Semitic for a long time, judging from the cultural
evidence
of the archaeological record. Undoubtely, the wealth of Pantelleria and
its close
connection with Carthage continued to grow through Roman and Byzantine
times.
Large portions of the islands were intensively cultivated, as evidenced
by the remains
of many villas and the centurial division of fields in the
southern flatlands of Ghirlanda,
Barone, Monastero and Scauri Scalo. In the 3rd
–6th centuries AD the permanent
population of Pantelleria might have reached its
maximum of 10,000 persons. During
Roman times was probably developed the
architectural type of the 'dammusi', the
vaulted rural houses built with lava
blocks with a low dome that still represent the most
characterising landmark in
Pantelleria’s landscape. The Arabs captured the island
from Byzanthium around
750 A.C., greatly improving its agricultural potentials, by
reorganizing the
land ownership and introducing new crops of higher yield. Their
culture has had
a very strong influence on Pantelleria persisting to the present. The
Arabs
called it al-Quasayra, and this name is still used by the Berbers of
North
Africa, or Bint-al Rion, "daughter of the wind". They also
introduced the cultivation of cotton, for many centuries the major export
of the island, and improved that of grapes
to produce dry raisins
as cash crop (zibibbo). Their political control ended with the
Norman conquest
of Sicily at the end of the 11th century, although alike the Romans in
the 3rd century BC, the new Christian kings of Sicily preferred to leave the island
populated by Muslims under the rule of qadis. A treaty signed in the 13th
century with
the Sultan of Tunis indicates that at least nominally the Pantescan
paid tribute to both
rulers. The wealth of the island is underlined in the
Mediaeval notary acts by the
presence of 60 Jewish families engaged in trading
activities. This idylliac
co-existence ended with the infameous edict of the
Catholic Kings in 1492 that
expelled from all lands of the crown of Spain Jews
and Muslims alike.
By severing its lifeline with the neighbouring coast of
Africa, Pantelleria ended its
wealth to became a frontier stronghold of Spain
and later the Borboun Kingdom of
Naples. The islands was resettled with
Spaniards, Portugueses and their Italian allies,
mainly Genoeses and
Neapolitans. Muslim piracy and the military confrontation with
Arabs and Turks
undermined any possibility to recover the wealth, while the island
was used as a
fortress and a prison. Main monument of this period is the Castello Medievale to defend the port and the fortified town of Pantelleria, unfortunately almost
completely destroyed by the Allies during the 2nd World War.
The almost
contemporaneous end of Berbery piracy and baronal landlordship in the
1840s reopened Pantelleria, improving the economic conditions of its people.
Capers
and grapes were intensively cultivated to articulate the local
agricultural
production with the world market. In 1860 Pantelleria was annexed,
together with
Sicily, to the Kingdom of Italy and has shared its historical
vicissitudes up until the
present. Following the Ethiopian War of 1935-36, and
the development of an hostile
policy with Great Britain, the Fascist government
of Italy decided to turn the island into
a fortress. Again for another decade
Pantelleria became a nodal point in a militarized
sea, economically marginalized
and exposed to destruction. In June 1943 it
surrounded without fighting,
to became the first landpiece of Axis territory to fall to the
Allies. In order
to prove the military superiority of their air forces in face of their own
people and the other allies, the Americans decided to mine the old city and film
it
pretending it had been destroyed by the airstrifes. However this useless
sacrifice
remains in our memory to mark the passage of this beautiful island to
an age of
peace and prosperity.
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