The first name of the island of Ustica was "Osteodes", in Greek "ossuary", so called because the skeletons of 6,000 Carthaginian soldiers were found here.
Subsequently the island was inhabited by the Romans and with them took the name of "Ustum", that is "burned", a name attributed to the island in reference to the black color of its volcanic rocks that made the territory appear as if it had been burned.
