Advertisement 1

Now that's isolation: Man gives up solitary life on island after 30 years

'It was never mine, but only my home,' he says of his idyllic spot in an Italian national park

Article content

He doesn’t want to immerse himself back in society after 32 years, but Mauro Morandi has been kicked off the island he has called home for three decades. He has no choice but to get himself a small apartment on another island — which will be a bit of a change from the Second World War bunker he’s been living in.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

He had set off in 1989 to sail to the South Pacific but was waylaid when his catamaran broke down and he landed on Budelli, a little island between Sardinia and Corsica. As though fated, the couple living there as the island’s guardians had just decided to retire. And thus began Morandi’s self-imposed exile.

Budelli is considered the most beautiful among the seven-island La Maddalena archipelago for its Spiaggia Rosa, or Pink Beach, says National Geographic. But as part of a national park since 2016, the authorities have been pressuring Morandi for years to leave so they could turn the island into a hub for environmental education. Tourists are able to visit the island during the day via boat and are permitted to walk along a path behind the beach — but they can’t walk on the sand or swim.

Article content
Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content
The island of Budelli sits in a small archipelago between the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, about 500 kilometres off the coast of Italy.
The island of Budelli sits in a small archipelago between the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, about 500 kilometres off the coast of Italy. Photo by Google Maps

“Exile” is perhaps not the correct descriptor of Morandi’s solitary life, given his access to visitors, social media and world events on the news. He’s kept busy sculpting the haggard branches of the local juniper bushes, selling them to tourists and donating the money to NGOs in countries from Africa to Tibet, National Geographic says. He’s an avid reader and meditates on the wisdom of Greek philosophers, as exiles are wont to do. He’s a prolific photographer of the island’s flora and fauna — not to mention its seascapes and sunsets — and has also taught visitors over the summers about its ecosystem and how to protect it. He has been more social than the word “solitary” might sound, though he does take some downtime to just sit at the beach and look out over the water.

“I hope(d) to die here and be cremated and have my ashes scattered in the wind,” Morandi, who is now 81, told NatGeo. But by next week, he’ll be living — “for now” — on the outskirts of the town of La Maddalena on the island of the same name, which is the largest in the archipelago. It will be crowded by comparison, with a population of just over 11,000.

“I will just go (to the town) for shopping and the rest of the time keep myself to myself,” he told the Guardian. “My life won’t change too much, I’ll still see the sea.”

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

È una 20ina di anni che lotto contro chi mi vuole mandare via, anche se sostenuto , psicologicamente e non solo da...

Posted by Mauro Morandi on Sunday, April 25, 2021

Translated, his Facebook post to his 26,000 followers said:

“It’s a 20 year old I’ve been fighting against who wants to send me away, even if I’m supported, psychologically and not just by Budelli and all of you who support me, but now I’m really pissed off and I’m going to leave hoping that … Budelli will be safeguarded as I have done for 32 years.”

“I have given up the fight,” he said. “I feel very sad to leave,” but acknowledged that at the same time “I’m sort of in prison here. But it’s a prison that I chose for myself.”

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers