Able was I ere I saw Elba

Able was I ere I saw Elba which is probably how we know of the Italian island… that and its Napoleonic links.

The rather archaic saying is of course the best example of a palindrome: a sentence which reads the same backwards.

Credited to Napoleon, Elba was the first of two islands he was exiled to.

The other St Helena, for me the island and planned trip which got away from me during Covid.

When I planned to mark the bicentenary of his death in his house, the southernmost part of France.

It was there that he is said to have coined the palindrome to his friend, his Irish physician Barry Edward O’Meara.

Impressive as I’m sure that few of us could come up with a palindrome with my school French often back to front.

Power to your Elba

Of course the Elbans have much to be proud of in their island.

And it was not antipathy to the isola off Pisa in Tuscany that led Italian descendant Bonaparte to quit Elba.

But a last and close stab at winning back France.

Twas on this day back in 1815 that Napoleon retook Paris and embarked on his 100 day rule before he met his Waterloo.

An aside here but we wonder what place name was used to denote your fate before the Flanders village.

Now Napoleon may have only lived 90 days in Elba but they have rightly dined out on it for the last two centuries.

And Napoleon did improve Elba’s roads during his months there.

Napoleon, still Emperor of the island, ensured he had one of the best properties on the island.

The seaside Villa dei Mulini (the villa of the mills) which he renovated.

As he did the ancient church of the Carmine which he turned into the first theatre on the island at the Theatre of the Vigilante in Portofierro.

If you want to get some exercise as you walk in Boney’s footsteps.

Then you can take a scenic uphill path through woods from the village of Marciana to where he worshipped.

At the Sanctuary of La Donna Del Monte.

So whether Napoleon did indeed opine to his Irish doctor years later ‘Able was I ere I saw Elba’ you can make up your own mind.

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