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Concept
Lampedusa
Summary
Lampedusa (ˌlæmpɪˈdjuːzə , US-sə,_-zə , lampeˈduːza; Lampidusa lambɪˈɾuːsa; Lopadoûssa; Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The comune of Lampedusa e Linosa is part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento which also includes the smaller islands of Linosa and Lampione. It is the southernmost part of Italy and Italy's southernmost island. Tunisia, which is away, is the closest landfall to the islands. Sicily is farther at , while Malta is east of Lampedusa.
Lampedusa has an area of and a population of about 6,000 people. Its main industries are fishing, agriculture, and tourism. A ferry service links the island with Porto Empedocle, near Agrigento, Sicily. There are also year-round flights from Lampedusa Airport to Palermo and Catania on the Sicilian mainland. In the summer, there are additional services to Rome and Milan, besides many other seasonal links with the Italian mainland.
In 2013, Spiaggia dei Conigli ("Rabbit Beach"), located in the southern part of the island, was voted the world's best beach by travel site TripAdvisor.
Since the early 2000s, the island has become a primary European entry point for migrants, mainly coming from Libya.
In 2021, the island received the Jan Karski Eagle Award, as the first and only time that the award was given out three times in a year.
The name Lampedusa derives from the ancient Greek name of the island, Λοπαδούσσα or Λαπαδούσσα (Lopadoússa/Lapadoússa).
It has been suggested that the name derives from the word λέπας (lépas), which means 'rock', due to the rocky landscape of the island; another story is that this word was also used by the Greeks for a kind of oyster and the island called that, due to the abundance of this kind of oyster. Other scholars believe that the name derives from λαμπάς (lampás), which means 'torch', because of the lights which were placed on the island for sailors.
Historically, Lampedusa was a landing place and a maritime base for the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans.
Official source
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