STINTINO ASINARA
History and landscape of Stintino and the Asinara national park
In front of the village of Stintino, Asinara is an island of 52 km located at the north-western tip of Sardinia. Its territory is wild with a painful history. It was populated since Prehistory but in a discontinuous way. In ancient times it was first called “Isola di Ercole”, than “Sinuaria”, due to its sunuous shape.
In recent History, this beautiful island was frequently a place of privation and suffering.
During the Middle Ages it remained almost uninhabited because of the Saracens raids.
In 1886 Asinara became an agricultural penal colony. So, its inhabitants were forced to abandon the island and for this reason they founded the village of Stintino.
During the First World War, the island was used as a prison camp for some prisoners of war, becoming also a Maritime Sanitary Station for prisoners quarantine. In memory of that dramatic period, there are still the gostly buildings of Sanitary Station and the charnel house (Ossario) in which the bones of Austro-Hungarian soldiers are deposited.
HISTORY
From Maximum Security Prison to Marine Protected Area
Due to the natural isolated condition of Asinara and a sparse human population, for many decades it has been exploited as a maximum security prison to detention of mafia members and terrorists. This paradoxical situation made Asinara an island with an extremely interesting area for all scientists and naturalists but at the same time it was the seat of the most hated prison of Italy.
In 1997, after many difficulties, Region of Sardinia finally managed to convert Asinara in a National Park and Marine Protected area. So now it belongs to everyone and it can finally show to all the beauty of its nature. Its bays are the most beautiful of Sardinia and Mediterranean: Cala Arena, Cala Sabina and Cala S.Andrea which is the favourite nest of the very rare Audouin's gull.
The cleanliness of its seawater and its typical turquoise of the sea between Stintino and Asinara is home to marine turtles (caretta caretta). The Marine Turtles Recovery Center (Crama), located in Cala Reale, studies and works for the conservation of this vulnerable species.
But the precious nature of Asinara is not only represented by its marine ecosystem;
the fauna is extraordinarily rich: after the closure of prisons and the establish of National Park, many species returned to the wild: cats, wild pigs, goats, horses, donkeys.
There are several endangered species among which Hermann's tortoise, the Barbary partridge and the white Asinara donkey, an endemic species which was introduced onto the island at the beginning of 1800 and probably abandoned when the inhabitants were moved to Stintino.
So this 'island within the island' is full of history and nature. It's waiting for you to tell you its secrets and to show you its most wonderful places!
Davide and Silvia will allow you to discover Asinara National Park on board of their Motopesca Alex in an unforgettable boat trip practising the boat sea fishing.
