Budelli

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Budelli is several hundred metres south of the islands of Razzoli and Santa Maria. It has an area of {{convert|1.6|km2}} and a circumference of {{convert|12.3|km}}. The highest point is Monte Budello, at {{convert|87|m}}.

In antiquity, the Romans used the island. More recently, it was the site of some of the filming for Red Desert, released in 1964. For decades, the island had a series of private owners.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/isle-of-budelli-mauro-morandi/index.html |title=Meet the 79-year-old man who lives alone on an Italian island |website=CNN |date=21 March 2018 |access-date=2025-01-08 |archive-date=2024-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240126045404/https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/isle-of-budelli-mauro-morandi/index.html |url-status=live }}

Budelli is especially renowned for its Spiaggia Rosa (Pink Beach), on the southeastern shoreline,[https://web.archive.org/web/20170726212744/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/europe/italy/photos-of-life-alone-on-a-paradise-island/ Meet a man who has lived alone on an island for 31 years] which owes its colour to microscopic fragments of corals and the tests, or shells, from Miriapora truncata and Miniacina miniacea, and was featured in Antonioni’s 1964 film Red Desert. Budelli was one of four uninhabited islands in the Maddalena archipelago—the others being Caprera, Spargi and Razzoli. However, from 1989 to 2021, the island had a permanent caretaker, Mauro Morandi, who took over from a married couple.[https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/after-30-years-an-island-and-its-sole-inhabitant-face-an-uncertain-future.html After 30 Years, an Island and Its Sole Inhabitant Face an Uncertain Future -- Mauro Morandi watched tourism, technology, and climate change reshape his home. Now, he fears he won’t see its restoration.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313171204/https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/after-30-years-an-island-and-its-sole-inhabitant-face-an-uncertain-future.html |date=2018-03-13 }}, Vittoria Traverso, Atlas Obscura/ Slate.com, 2018-03-12

Rules imposed as of the 1990s by La Maddalena NP have not allowed tourists to walk on the pink beach or swim in the sea; however, day trips by boat, as well as walking along a path behind the beach, were permitted.

In October 2013, the island was to be sold for €2.94 million to New Zealand businessman Michael Harte after the bankruptcy of the previous owner. Harte intended to protect the island's ecosystem.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11134355 |title=Kiwi's Mediterranean island purchase 'no flight of fancy' |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=3 October 2013 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |access-date=21 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042150/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11134355 |url-status=live }} The government protested, and after a three year court battle, a judge in Sardinia{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/08/italy-mediterranean-budelli-environment/495521/ |title=When an Island's Lone Caretaker Leaves |website=The Atlantic |date=12 August 2016 |access-date=2025-01-08 |archive-date=2023-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906235829/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/08/italy-mediterranean-budelli-environment/495521/ |url-status=live }} reverted the island to the state, with the national park planning to use it for environmental education.

The sole former occupant of the island, Mauro Morandi (1939–2025), lived there from 1989 until his eviction in April 2021.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/15/italy-robinson-crusoe-mauro-morandi-eviction-budelli-island-paradise |title='Italy's Robinson Crusoe' despairs as eviction from island paradise looms |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Angela Giuffrida |date=15 July 2020 }}{{Cite web |last=Giuffrida |first=Angela |date=2021-08-03 |title='Now it's continuous noise': Italy's Crusoe adjusts to life off his island |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/03/continuous-noise-italy-crusoe-adjusts-life-off-island-budelli |url-status=live |access-date=2021-08-03 |website=The Guardian |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803085844/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/03/continuous-noise-italy-crusoe-adjusts-life-off-island-budelli |archive-date=2021-08-03 }}To explain why he could not be allowed to live on the island indefinitely, the park's president said in 2016: "[He] symbolizes a man enchanted by the elements who decides to devote his life to contemplation and custody ... No one ignores his role in representing the historical memory of the place … But it's hard to find a contractual arrangement for a person in his position."[https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/08/italy-mediterranean-budelli-environment/495521/ When an Island’s Lone Caretaker Leaves] Morandi died from a brain haemorrhage on 3 January 2025, at the age of 85.{{Cite news |last=Giuffrida |first=Angela |date=2025-01-07 |title=Hermit guardian of Budelli dies after three decades on paradise island |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/07/hermit-guardian-budelli-island-off-sardinia-dies |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 }}{{Cite news |last=Povoledo |first=Elisabetta |date=January 12, 2025 |title=Mauro Morandi, 85, Italy’s Robinson Crusoe, and Only Resident of Budelli |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/world/europe/mauro-morandi-dead.html |access-date=January 12, 2025 |work=The New York Times |page=A25 |language=en-US |volume=174 |issue=60397 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cite news |title=Mauro Morandi obituary: castaway on Italian island for 32 years |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/mauro-morandi-obituary-castaway-on-italian-island-for-32-years-ffmckgcq6 |access-date=21 January 2025 |publisher=The Times |date=20 January 2025}}{{Cite news |title=Mauro Morandi needed to abandon consumer society |url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/01/30/mauro-morandi-needed-to-abandon-consumer-society |access-date=2025-02-24 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}

• List of islands of Italy

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{{Maddalena archipelago}}

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Category:Islands of Sardinia

Category:Uninhabited islands of Italy

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