Italian Robinson Crusoe Forced to Leave Beloved Island
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London - Asharq Al-Awsat
A man known as Italy's Robinson Crusoe who has lived alone on a Mediterranean island for more than 30 years after running into difficulties in the sea, has said he is finally surrendering to pressure from authorities to leave and will be moving to a small apartment, reported The Guardian. Mauro Morandi, 81, stumbled across Budelli, a Mediterranean island off Sardinia, in 1989, after his catamaran broke down on the way to the south Pacific. In a fortuitous twist of fate, Morandi discovered that the island's caretaker was about to retire, and so he abandoned the sailing trip, sold his boat and took over the role. Since then, Morandi, whose home is a former Second World War shelter overlooking a bay, has got to know every rock, tree and animal species of the rugged islet. Morandi said he had decided to leave at the end of the month after several threats of eviction from the La Maddalena national park authorities, which have been managing Budelli since 2016 and want to reclaim his home and turn the island into what has been described as a hub for environmental education. "I have given up the fight. After 32 years here, I feel very sad to leave. They told me they need to do work on my house and this time it seems to be for real," he said. Morandi, originally from Modena in central Italy, said he was moving into a small apartment on nearby La Maddalena, the largest island of the archipelago. "I'll be living in the outskirts of the main town, so will just go there for shopping and the rest of the time keep myself to myself. My life won't change too much, I'll still see the sea," he said. As for Budelli, he said: "I hope that someone can protect it as well as I have." For years, Morandi guarded the island without trouble, but his role came under threat when the private company that owned the island went bankrupt. Plans to sell it in 2013 to Michael Harte, a businessman from New Zealand who pledged to keep Morandi on as caretaker, were thwarted amid protests and an intervention by the Italian government.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2943756/italian-robinson-crusoe-forced-leave-beloved-island
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