Does Monte Cristo exist?

Cristo

Yes it does. French writer Alexandre Dumas visited the tiny, uninhabited island of Montecristo in 1842 and was inspired to use the craggy, windswept rock as the setting for part of his novel The Count Of Monte Cristo. With an area of only 10.4 square kilometres (four square miles), Montecristo is the smallest in a string of islands off the coast of Italy forming the Tuscan Archipelago. During its long history, the island was briefly occupied by monks and hermits, then overrun in the 1550s by pirates rumoured to have buried treasure in its many caves. Today, Montecristo is a protected nature reserve, although an infestation of black rats threatens many of its native species and its viability as a tourist destination.

Answered by Dave Roos