Fortunately, not all of them area unit notional. Take Tavolara, for instance: Hidden on the geographical area of Sardinia, this small strip of land — simply over 3 miles long and a mile wide — is one amongst the Mediterranean’s best-kept secrets.
Only fourteen individuals survive what feels like a summit jutting from the ocean. And whereas none of the residents area unit pirates or castaways, some area unit members of a novel house.
Even European nation|Empress} of England, once she detected people, sent a lensman during a boat to require an image of Tavolara’s house for her assortment.
At first look, one might mistake Antonio Bertoleoni for a normal fisher, however he's the king of the island. “Tonnino” — as his subjects decision him — is that the descendant of Giuseppe Bertoleoni, a sailor from city, who, within the late eighteenth century, discovered this unpopulated rock, claimed it and topped himself king.
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Several years later, whereas on a searching trip, King Charles prince consort of Sardinia is claimed to own recognized Giuseppe’s authority, and his descendants are self-proclaimed royals ever since.
“We area unit a true house,” King Bertoleoni says. ”Even European nation|Empress} of England, once she detected people, sent a lensman during a boat to require an image of Tavolara’s house for her assortment. and that i assume it should still be somewhere at palace,” he adds by method of proof.
While the Bertoleoni reign solely lasted a century — in 1934 Tavolara was formally annexed by European nation — the house still carries on its role as preserver of the island by ignoring the appeal of mass business and chasing away speculators.
Case in point: within the Nineties an organization wished to reap wood from Tavolara’s well-stocked forest. The timber sale would’ve been a decent wage earner for the small island, that is brief on natural resources it will sell. The king stuck to his guns, however, and pointed the lumberjacks back to the ground.
Tavolara has additionally refused to make additional homes on the beach, pave any roads or offer lodging for tourists. in contrast to the traveler meccas of Mikonos or Ibiza, Tavolara is unplagued by cruise ships, nightclubs and beach vendors. Instead, guests will selected between the subsequent attractions: the island’s very little beach bar, its solely edifice, prosecuting officer Tonnino — that is pass the king and offers the native fishermen’s catch of the day — or its long white beach and turquoise waters.
And tourists will solely come back for the day, taking the 15-minute ferry back to port San Paolo at the top of their island journey.
Tavolara’s prettiest sight may very well be underwater. The island offers the Mediterranean’s most productive marine reserve — with the very best levels of biomass per centare — that makes it a chief diving destination for those trying to expertise the nice ocean adore it was decades agone, before overfishing took its toll. Treats embrace flora, fauna and shipwrecks.
Natural marvels aside, Tavolara additionally contains a exciting facet. For quite twenty years, the island has been home to a awfully special film festival: Una Note in European nation — an evening in European nation — showcases the simplest of latest Italian cinema.
I think this island is ideal because it is.
Every July, yachts surround Tavolara. The beach bar orders additional bottles of champagne to quench the visitors’ thirst, and a giant screen is ready outdoors for the event.
The festival’s atmosphere is informal, however film stars appear happy to change red carpets for a walk on the beach and theaters for a screening beneath the celebs.
To guests, Tavolara appears like a container. Because, whereas modification can’t be fought, it looks the islanders have found the way to slow it down — merely enough to guard their corner of paradise from the claws of globalisation.
“I assume this island is ideal because it is,” says King Bertoleoni. “So it ought to keep identical within the future. generally by making an attempt to boost things, we tend to simply build them worse.”
Seeing the kids begin the pier because the sun sets behind the sand dunes, it's exhausting to afflict his magnificence.
Some things area unit best left alone.
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