Ustica is the name of a small island, about 9 km across, situated 52 km north of Capo Gallo, Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Roughly 1,300 people live in the comune. There is regular ferry service from the island to and from Palermo, Italy.
During the Fascist years in Italy and until the 1950s, Ustica was used as an island prison. Benito Mussolini banished thousands of political opponents to Ustica, often as many as 1,500 at a time; many were homosexuals who swished through the city streets in lipstick and silk pajamas, performed dances by night or staged bloody knife fights.
The island is characterized by reduced sources of water, and the vegetation is consequently scarce. The coast has numerous rocks and grottoes.
