The Pianosa island with its 10.2 sq km is the fifth island of the Tuscan Archipelago by extension.

Frequented by prehistoric man and by the most ancient navigators, it shows evidence of the Neolithic, Aeneolithic and Bronze Age. It was a site of maritime residential structures of the Roman Age.

In 1850 it became a correctional agricultural colony with a continuity of presence on the island from a few hundred to about one thousand people until the early twentieth century. From 1920 to 1996 with the various profiles of correctional colony, the population of the island fluctuated between 1000 and 2000 people.

Currently the island is not a correctional colony, but an extension of Porto Azzurro (Elba Island) jail and the permanent population is lower than 50, with seasonal peaks of 200-300 people per day due to the daily summer tourist flow.

Starting from the first period of the colony settlement, and gradually intensying until the early nineties, various types of crops (including wheat, vines and olive trees) and livestock (cows, sheeps, goats), have been practiced, though with poor results and , in some periods, with significant problems of water shortage, despite the "numerous" shallow and deep wells. Currently the anthropogenic pressure is very low, in some ways negligible compared to the past. Crops are absent, if we exclude a vegetable garden managed by prisoners, as well as livestock. Since 1996, with the establishment of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park Authority, the island and its waters have been considered a protected environment.