Portoferraio is the main town and it's located on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba.
The city was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1548, with the name of Cosmopoli. It had three forts: Forte Stella, Forte Falcone and Forte Inglese and a massive line of walls, all still visible today.
The historic center of Portoferraio granted with its old houses the flowering balconies, narrow streets and squares with a view, a look into the past of the city.

The route of exile of Napoleon to Elba consists of: Palazzina dei Mulini, the church della Misericordia in which are conserved the relics of the martyr Saint Crispin and the death mask of Napoleon and the Villa Demidoff in S. Martino the summer home of Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The current town hall was originally the bakery, where was baked the bread  for the Medici Fortress.

The theater dei Vigilanti, once the church del Carmine, was chosen by Napoleon, to give his little capital a theater, which he let to decorate with gold stamping boys, velvet and damask.

In Culture and Congress Centre De Laugier will find the Paintings Gallery Foresiana with a collection of paintings from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century from the collection of Mario Foresi.