Pietra Murata, Elba

Pietra Murata is a monzogranitic rock formation on the island of Elba, the site of multiple settlements from the Bronze Age until the Etruscans and the 14th century.

The site, in a strategic position on the Tyrrhenian Sea and visually communicating with the settlement of the Mure, is characterized by small cores of dense stones emerging from the ground and remains of masonry attributable to the Hellenistic age at which fragments of pottery with Etruscan letters graffitied were found. Instead, a lookout post with a cylindrical seat carved out of the top of the rock formation would date to the medieval age. From Pisan documents of 1324 there is news of an armed sentry for the surveillance of the sea below who communicated any sightings with smoke signals. At the foot of the cliff is a small pastoral quarter with an enclosure and stone shelter probably built after 1930 by shepherd Mamiliano Martorella of San Piero in Campo.

Prior to Operation Brassard, Allied action was in part facilitated by the informational cooperation of some Elban partisans such as Riccardo Spinetti of San Piero, who owned a rudimentary anti-German radio station in a cave in Pietra Murata.

The rock formations of Tozza al Pròtano, Tozza alla Noce and Cote dell'Orbo are found in the area.