After more than three decades of calling the
small Italian island of Budelli home, Mauro Morandi is being forced to leave
its pink-sanded shores.
Morandi, 81, has been the caretaker of the
island, off the coast of Sardinia, since 1989. That year, he stopped at
Budelli on his way to the South Pacific when his catamaran broke down and
decided to stay after learning that the caretaker at the time was retiring. The
story has inspired his nickname as Italy's Robinson Crusoe.
Now, Morandi is deciding to leave after five years of being threatened with eviction by local authorities. In 2016, the island's private ownership went bankrupt, and the land eventually became public after back-and-forth between a potential New Zealand buyer and the Italian government.
The situation prompted a Change.org petition for Morandi to be able to stay.
"I have given up the fight," Morandi, who has been living in a former World War II shelter on the island, told reporters . "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."
The La Maddalena National Park authorities have
plans to turn Budelli island into an environmental education destination.
Morandi won't be moving far, though: he will live on La Maddalena island and said that his day-to-day life won't be too
different.
"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."
"I hope that someone can protect it as
well as I have," he said of his beloved Budelli.
Aricle from People
