The lighthouse history
Most of coastal and island lighthouses in Tuscany date back to the late ‘800; they were built to provide safety of sailors in an Italy that had just completed its unification. So it was that the lights of the headlights involved shallow surfacing and islets like the Formiche of Grosseto.
Three barren islets that emerge from the depths a hundred meters deep, 28 km from Porto Santo Stefano. On the largest “Formica” – the largest island in the north-west – is the Formiche Lighthouse. Around the islets of Formica Media (Medium Ant) and Formichino (Little Ant).
This lighthouse was built in 1901 and was activated by the Navy, at that time Royal Navy. It’s the classic white circular tower that surmounts a rectangular white building, once the house of the keeper. The lighthouse is functioning, with photovoltaic power and rhythmic light, equipped with a 100 W LABI lamp, which emits a white flash every 6 seconds of the range of 11 nautical miles.
The Navy has classified it “Signalling 2136“