SecondEarly in the morning, Mauro Morandi woke up to see the unobstructed sea view that only he knew. Immersed in nature, he is in close harmony with the dawn sounds and habits of the surrounding wildlife. His home is Budley’s former World War II sanctuary, where he lived alone for more than 30 years.
Now, the 82-year-old is adapting to living in a one-bedroom apartment next to a store. There is a Sky TV sign outside the store, surrounded by neighbors. Only a glimpse can be seen between the gaps in the building opposite to La. The sea. Maddalena is the largest of the seven islands on the north coast of Sardinia. Italy.
Morandi said in his new home: “I’m used to silence. Now it’s constant noise…Music, motorcycles, people…it distracts you and you don’t have time to think.”
More than three months have passed since Morandi, a former physical education teacher in Modena, a city in northern Italy. Forced to leave Budley, Where he got to know every kind of rock, tree and animal on the rugged island.
He thought that the public fascination with his life would subside after he left. Instead, it becomes more heated. Fans from all over the world continued to send him messages. A recent article wrote: “Mauro, the master of loneliness.” Reporters still call him to get a quote, or look forward to writing a book or making a movie.
“I thought that after leaving Budley, no one would talk about me anymore,” he said. “On the contrary, you reporters have been entangled.”
When asked why he thought his conspiracy was so strong, Morandi replied: “It’s as if people entrusted me to do something they would never have the courage to do.”
Morandi has always dreamed of living on an island.
Enraged by consumerism, politics, and other aspects of society, he decided to set sail for Polynesia in 1989 to find his pastoral scenery. However, due to a technical failure of the catamaran, his trip to the South Pacific was interrupted shortly after leaving the Italian mainland, forcing him to moor in La Maddalena.
He decided to work on the island for a period of time to pay for the boat and finance the remaining trips. But then, after applauding Budley, who was uninhabited nearby, Morandi realized that his paradise was closer to home.
Unfortunately, the guardian on the island was about to retire, so Morandi gave up his Polynesian trip, sold the ship and took over the role.
For the next two decades, he guarded Budley effortlessly, cleared roads, kept the beach in its pristine condition, and taught summer day-trip tourists to understand its ecosystem.
Since the 1990s, tourists have been banned from walking on the island’s pink beach, where the sand is often stolen and swimming in the sea is forbidden, but they can take a boat tour during the day and are allowed to walk along the path behind the beach . They are often surprised at encountering the only resident, although soon news broke that Morandi earned the nickname Robinson Crusoe by the name of the drifter in Daniel Defoe’s novels.
Over the years, it has been the former Formula One boss Flavio Briatore and his then-girlfriend Naomi Campbell that attracted many tourists. The couple came to see Morandi for dinner. He can only provide a cup of coffee at most. They refused and left.
Food is delivered to him by boat from La Maddalena, and a homemade solar system powers his lights, refrigerator and internet connection. In the winter when there are no tourists, he collects wood, reads and sleeps every day.
Morandi’s life continued at almost the same pace until the private company that owned the island went bankrupt. It was planned to sell it to Michael Harte, a businessman from New Zealand in 2013. He promised to keep Morandi as the caretaker, but was thwarted by protests and the intervention of the Italian government. In 2016, a Sardinian judge ruled that the island was returned to the public.
Before leaving at the end of April, Morandi had been in a long-term dispute with the authorities of La Maddalena National Park, which now administers Budelli, because he was fighting deportation. The authorities plan to turn Budley into an environmental education center, accusing him of making adjustments to his home on the island without the necessary permission, and saying that he must leave.
The two parties seemed to have reached a compromise earlier this year, and Morandi told him that once the project on the island was completed, he might return as a guardian. Morandi said: “The person in charge of the park suggested to leave before the start of the project in exchange for trying to give me a contract to return me as a guardian.” “It should have started a week after I left, but it hasn’t started yet. “
Budley is now guarded by CCTV cameras. Morandi returned there recently to collect some items. “This is a disaster,” he said. “The beach was trampled on. I knew it would happen. No one came to educate tourists there anymore.”
Nevertheless, when he reviewed his life, Morandi admitted that it might be time to leave Budley. “Last winter was very harsh. The rain was heavy and there was almost no sunlight to supply electricity… For three months, I ate all canned food. I am 82 years old and life there has become more challenging. My legs are not good. , It’s difficult to walk-if I fall on a rock, there will be no one to help me.”
In the past few months, he has had time to develop a new hobby — he takes pictures of buildings in La Maddalena — and repairs the relationship with his three daughters who live in Modena. “I will never regret the choice I made, but it is not easy,” he said. “When I went to live in Budley, my daughters were already adults, and I thought they accepted… Then I realized they didn’t. A daughter hadn’t spoken to me for four years, and we only started talking recently.”
The day after our meeting, Budley went to Modena to visit his family. “Budley’s experience is over,” he said.
