A man who lived completely alone on a deserted island for 32 years ended up there by ‘accident’.
The man moved to the small island of Budelli just off the coast of Sardinia back in 1989.
As the caretaker of the island at the time he was set to retire, Mauro Morandi decided to stay and for the next 32 years, he lived in solitude, serving as the island’s unofficial guardian.
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Speaking to BBC Outlook back in 2018, Morandi shared that he had ‘always been a bit of a rebel’.
He added: “I was quite fed up with a lot of things about our society: consumerism and the political situation in Italy.
“I decided to move to a desert island in Polynesia, away from all civilisation. I wanted to start a new life close to nature.”
However, he wound up on Budelli after there were technical issues with his catamaran.
Morandi made the decision to set up home on the island where food was delivered to him by boat from the nearby island of La Maddalena.
A homemade solar system gave him the ability to power his fridge and the lights in his hut and, later on, his internet too.
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But Morandi’s life on the island wasn’t without struggle, as he experienced pressure from the Italian authorities to relocate away from the island, facing numerous threats of eviction over the years.
Despite a petition of over 70,000 signatories calling on the Italian government to allow Morandi to stay on the island, the man was evicted in 2021.
He moved into a one-bedroom apartment on La Maddalena.
Speaking to the Guardian that year, Morandi said: “I became so used to the silence. Now it’s continuous noise.”
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He spent time in a care home in Sassari last year after suffering a fall.
Earlier this year, in January, Morandi passed away in his hometown of Modena, in northern Italy.
Following his death, tributes were posted on social media from around the world.
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One person wrote: “Ciao Mauro, now you can return to the island that protected you for decades.”
On Reddit, one user said: “Probably died dreaming about the sea and going home.”
Another shared: “Imagine finding a place so peaceful you never want to leave. That's rare these days.”
A third commented: “Sounds like paradise. Too bad we are not an interstellar species yet otherwise we could all have our own private rocks to live on if we wanted.”
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And a fourth person added: “That man lived my dream of living in isolation and surrounded by nature.”