Mezzu Mare, the Great Sanguinaire: lighthouse, signal station and lazaret

Mezzu Mare, or the Great Sanguinaire, is the largest island in the archipelago and the only one where shuttles land, for a stop of about an hour. A stone path leads right to the 1870 lighthouse (82 m above sea level, range 24 nautical miles) and left to the 1865 signal station. The pentagonal foundations of the 1806 lazaret survive in the middle of the island; to the south, the small Castellucio tower is hard to reach. Over 150 plant species grow there.

The island’s buildings

Source: technical sheets of the Grand Site of the Sanguinaires Islands.

The lighthouse

The lighthouse stands in the north of the island, 82 m above sea level. It is 18.5 m tall and has a range of 24 nautical miles. Its construction, decided in 1838 by the Lighthouse Commission for the safety of steamships, took six years: materials arrived by barge, then on donkeyback. Its base, with machicolations, recalls the Genoese tower it replaced. Three keepers lived there until it was automated in 1985. Alphonse Daudet stayed there in 1863 and drew on the visit for « Le Phare des Sanguinaires ».

The signal station and the lazaret

The signal station, in the centre of the island at 30 m, kept a 360-degree watch on shipping at the mouth of the gulf from 1865. It closed in 1955, replaced by the more accessible one at La Parata. The lazaret, a pentagon with sides of 63 to 80 metres, could take up to 80 coral fishermen’s boats, hauled inside on timbers. The sailors spent forty days there under the watch of a surgeon and a health inspector. See the islands’ history.

During the stop

The stop lasts about an hour: time to climb to the lighthouse or swim, according to Nave Va. The island has no shade and no water point. Bring water, a hat and closed shoes for the stone path. Over 150 plant species grow on the island, including the dead-horse arum; stay on the paths. For other trips, see the boat trip comparison.