Leaves the island where he lived alone for 32 years
Mauro Morandi had come to the inhospitable island of Budelli by chance in 1989. The Italian learned that the island’s guard would leave his post, so he made the decision to take his place and live there alone.
Mauro Morandi has lived for only 32 years on the small island of Budelli, an uninhabited paradise, a natural park in the Italian region of Sardinia of which he had become its guardian, but by surprise he announced on Monday (04.26.2021) on his page Facebook that is leaving: “I’ve had enough, I’m leaving.”
This 82-year-old hermit, known as the Italian ‘Robison Crusoe‘, had arrived by chance on this uncontaminated island in the Magdalena archipelago park in 1989, while trying to reach Polynesia from Italy by sea.
The former physical education teacher from Modena (north) bought a catamaran with some friends and his partner in order to sail to Polynesia. The group passed through the archipelago of Sardinia and, after discovering by chance that the then in charge of taking care of Budelli was about to leave, Morandi took his place and settled there, in complete solitude.
With an area of about 1.6 square kilometers, the island is considered one of the most beautiful and wild in the Mediterranean, known above all for its Pink Beach, formed by tiny fragments of coral and shells that give it this color and which are can only be accessed with permission.
The authorities did not want him to remain on the island
During all these years the Sardinian authorities had tried to evict Morandi, who did not have the permits to live there, but the popular outcry and his work prevented it: to keep tourists away from its protected waters, to ensure that there were no fires and clean the beaches of waste.
Until this Monday, when with a post on his Facebook profile, which he has used over the years to share photos of the wonders of the island, he announced: “I have been fighting for 20 years against those who want to kick me out, although supported, psychologically and not only for Budelli, but for all those who cheer me on, now I’ve really had enough and I’m leaving “.
Three years ago the Magdalena National Park (to which Budelli belongs) had decided to “evict” the property occupied by Morandi. Now this hermit explains that he is leaving the house because he has been told that they have to do works in this house, including removing asbestos, and that he has tired of fighting.
Until now, he lived without radio or television, but he used the internet connection and social networks to document the beauties of his island and explain that he spent a lot of time “recovering the many waste that comes from the sea.”
Morandi no longer wants to be alone
For him, the confinement due to the pandemic that still exists in Sardinia has not been hard. “I have always been alone, last year I did not see anyone for six months,” he explained to the Italian media, although he confessed that now he “will have to be vaccinated” since he will meet other people.
For the “Italian Robinson Crusoe“, the years begin to weigh down after having suffered “a cold winter” and the “breakage of the refrigerator for months”.
He also confesses that his decision has pushed him that he has met a person, with whom he believes he has fallen in love, and that he has already rented a house in La Magdalena to perhaps “start a life together” and not be alone again .
