MAN LEAVES ITALIAN ISLAND AFTER 32 YEARS OF LIVING THERE ALONE
After living on a lonely island for over three decades, this Italian man, Mauro Morandi, 81, has been pressured to leave by authorities.
Morandi moved to the island of Budelli off northern Sardinia in 1989.
Last year, Morandi said that, after living for over 30 years on the island, the island's owners want him to relocate.
"I will leave hoping that, in the future, Budelli will be protected as I have protected it for 32 years," said Morandi.
The former physical education teacher explained that he has "always been a bit of a rebel". He decided to move to the island as "I was quite fed up with a lot of things about our society: consumerism and the political situation in Italy. I decided to move to a desert island in Polynesia, away from all civilisation. I wanted to start a new life close to nature."
It all began with a journey at sea with Morandi and his friends. They came upon the Italian archipelago of La Maddalena, where they planned to work to make money to fund the rest of their travels.
Upon their arrival at the island, Morandi decided to stay after meeting Budelli's guardian, who was set to retire. Since then, Morandi has remained on the island to look after it. Some of his duties also included speaking to some excited tourists visiting the gorgeous pink beaches.
However, his stay on the island has not only been smooth running. He has faced numerous eviction threats over the years.
In 2020, the president of La Maddalena's National Park, Fabrizio Fonnesu, released a statement. He said that Morandi had carried out illegal alterations to his hut, a former radio station dating back to World War Two.
A petition was called on the Italian government to help Morandi continue his stay on the island, which gathered more than 70,000 signatures.
However, Morandi recently announced that he has made his decision to leave. His next step is to move to a small flat on the nearby island of La Maddalena. "My life won't change too much, I'll still see the sea," said Morandi.