About us
Barbatoja
Our Story.
For 60 years in Fetovaia
…with love and respect for the environment and its traditions.
In 1955, a young newlywed couple arrived in the Barbatoja Gulf aboard a small boat for their honeymoon. The beach was a blooming dune covered with white lilies, and the village appeared as a vast vineyard. Italo and Marisa Martinenghi fell in love with this corner of paradise, purchased some land to cultivate vineyards, and renovated an old farmhouse.
In 1961, after the construction of the connecting road to Marina di Campo, they acquired the concession for the first beach club on the island, which they named after the gulf: Barbatoja. The family grew and settled on the island, giving rise to the Pizzeria, the Beachside Restaurant-Bistro, parking facilities, and Holiday Homes.
In 2019, renovation work began using natural materials typical of Elban tradition, such as straw for the umbrellas, chestnut wood, bamboo, and jute for the restaurant-bistro, pergolas of the vacation homes, and parking structures. In 2020, the ancient vineyards were brought back to light in the parking area with the planting of Ansonica vines.
Fetovaja’s History
The turtles’ beach
…was once the bay of the dolphins in love.
Sheltered by the majestic Punta di Fetovaia, a stretch of land approximately 1 km long covered with lentisks, pines, and rosemary, the beach is known to be one of the most beautiful on the island for its white granitic sand washed by the turquoise sea. It is also known as the bay of the dolphins in love, who still cross paths offshore the famous point.
Once upon a time, these cetaceans used to give birth to their calves here, aided by the shallow depths and the mild water temperature that made the gulf an ideal incubator. But in 2023, Fetovaia celebrated another extraordinary event: the birth of over 100 little turtles that came to light on the beach, also thanks to the help of many volunteers coordinated by researchers from the University of Pisa, and Siena.
The eggs were laid by mother Loggerheads in two different moments during the peak beach season, under the amazed eyes of tourists who were on the beach in the early morning hours.