The Porta d'Europa is a slender terracotta archway set on the cliffs of the island's southern coast, facing Africa across 130 kilometres of open sea. Created by the Sicilian artist Mimmo Paladino and inaugurated in 2008, it commemorates the migrants who have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to reach Europe.
The monument is a complicated presence on a beautiful island. Lampedusa has been at the centre of European migration debates for decades, and the contrast between its role as a tourist destination and as the first landfall for desperate people on overloaded boats is not something the island has fully resolved. The Porta d'Europa sits at the end of a short walk on the southern cliffs, away from the town. It is worth making the trip: the setting and the view toward Africa give the memorial an immediacy that a city-centre monument would not have.