They want to kick out the sailing guardian of Budelli. A good story that threatens to end badly

He is the only inhabitant and helped save the island of Budelli, the pearl of La Maddalena with its pink beach, from vandals, but now, after 28 years of hermit life, they want to kick Mauro Morandi out. Why?

Mauro Morandi, 77, arrived on the island of Budelli in 1989 with a 16-meter catamaran that of the legendary pink beach in the Maddalena archipelago. He was to make a short stop, a few hours, to familiarize himself and then, in Moitessier’s footsteps, reach Polynesia. After 28 years he’s still there, the island’s only inhabitant, watching over and protecting this paradise as Budelli’s guardian, but they want to send him away. It’s not a money story, Mauro costs nothing, he lives off his baby pension as a physical education teacher, but after various changes in ownership of the island, now the “boss” of the Maddalena Marine Park Giuseppe Bonanno no longer wants him. And it is not clear why. Already 15,000 signatures have been affixed to the online petition To ensure that the guardian sailor stays on the island. And preserve it as you have done for dozens of years.

Mauro Morandi, asks nothing: “The Park says I can no longer stay because there are no security conditions and because they obviously cannot hire me as a janitor. Is this the reward for my efforts to defend the beach? Until today, who has been concerned about my safety? Don’ t let me die early, leave me alone. Alone, I don’t ask anyone for anything anyway“.

His is a story of a missed navigator. “In the 1970s I taught physical education in Modena. I held out for a few years, and then there was the opportunity for retirement-lightning, and I took it. I was a protester, an uncomfortable character.” Later, he opened a vintage clothing store with his partner. “It went well for several years.” What about the sea? “More like the mouth of the Po River, which I sailed the length and breadth of for at least six years with a batana. Until a friend recommended that I read Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” and I took flight.“.

The discovery of sailing and the dream
“I discover the sea with a five-meter sailboat, first venturing up the Adriatic coast to Trieste and then buying another eight-meter boat. I like sailing“. The turning point came in 1989, when Mauro decided to ride the dream. He buys with friends a large catamaran, 16 meters long and 9 meters wide, to be refitted. “I was tired of society, I wanted a different life,” he tells Fabio Pozzo of La Stampa. He wanted to reach Polynesia but stopped in Budelli because, “”The janitor at the time was leaving. He was two days away. I saw that crystal clear sea, the Pink Beach, coral like I imagined the ones in the Pacific, and I applied to replace it“.

From there he never moved and became the guardian of the treasures attacked by boorish tourists. Landing has been prohibited in Budelli since 1999, but if anyone dares, it’s trouble for him. Although Mauro is now nearing 80, he still flaunts an enviable physical fitness and does not suffer from Robinson Crusoe-like abandonment syndrome. And he is not a man isolated from the world; he has a cell phone, wi-fi, and an iPad, and for the past few months he has also had a “girlfriend,” Caterina, a drawing teacher from Naples, whom he met on Facebook.

How to survive isolated, but well
What does Mauro eat and how does he treat himself? “I treat myself with this aloe plant: I eat it and it extends my life. Nettle, asparagus and chicory soups are my favorite dishes. In winter I also have mushrooms, but if it doesn’t rain I can forget about them. In the spring I also make omelets with seagull eggs. Until a few years ago I could go fishing, but now I no longer have a dinghy and bass have become a rare privilege. I eat very little meat.” Just for guests at dinner today, there is a twist: barbecued sausage, pecorino cheese and cannonau.

The inhabitants of the island actually number eight: he, five cats and two chickens. Plus a few bats and lots of mice. And the seagulls, which from dawn to dusk continually watch over the pink beach. He lives in a small house built during World War II, a kind of fortification. He reads books every day and does Tai Chi exercises in the morning.

Then why do they want to send this man away: “the Park says I can no longer stay because there are no security conditions and because they obviously cannot hire me as a janitor. Is this the reward for my efforts to defend the beach? Until today, who has been concerned about my safety? Don’t let me die early, leave me alone. Alone, I don’t ask anyone for anything anyway“.