Description of the attraction
Azinara is a small island with an area of only 52 square kilometers, located at the northwestern tip of Sardinia. Its length is 17.4 km, and its width varies from 290 meters in Cala di Zgombro to 6.4 km in the northern part. The length of the rugged coastline is 110 km. The name of the island is translated from Italian as “inhabited by donkeys”, but there is a version that the word “asinara” comes from the Latin “sinuariya”, which means “sinus-shaped”. Today the island is practically uninhabited: the 2001 census registered only one permanent resident.
Azinara is a mountainous island with steep and sheer coastal cliffs. The highest peak is Punta della Skomunica (408 meters). There are only three sandy beaches throughout the island, all on the east coast. Interesting fact: metamorphic rocks with an age of about 950 million years are found on Asinar - the oldest in all of Italy. Since there is a lack of fresh water, there are very few large trees on the island - they are found only in the northern part of the island. In other parts, the vegetation is mainly represented by low subtropical shrubs.
The first human settlements on Asinara date back to prehistoric times: not far from the town of Campo Perdu, right in the limestone cliffs, the so-called “domus de Janas”, a type of stone tombs common in Sardinia between 3400 and 2700 BC, were carved out. The Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans also knew about this island. In the Middle Ages, the monastery of the order of the Camaldulos Sant Andrea and Castellaccio, located in Punta Maestra, was built. Later control of the island was the subject of a dispute between Pisa, the Republic of Genoa and the Aragonese dynasty. In the 17th century, shepherds from Sardinia and mainland Liguria colonized Asinara, and in 1721 the island became part of the Sardinian kingdom. In 1885, an infirmary and a penal colony were built on the now Italian Asinara, and about a hundred families of local farmers and fishermen were forced to leave the island - they moved to Sardinia and founded the village of Stintino. During the First World War, a prisoner of war camp was located here, in which 24 thousand Austrian and Hungarian soldiers were kept, of which five thousand died here. And from 1936 to 1941, during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, members of noble Ethiopian families were under arrest on the island. Later, members of mafia clans and terrorists were sent here. Only in 1997, the prison was closed, and the territory of Asinara was included in the national park.
Since 1999, tourists can get here, though only as part of organized groups - access for private boats and boats is strictly prohibited. Swimming is allowed on only three beaches. In 2008, 107.32 km2 of surrounding water area was added to the park's land area, in which waters are home to numerous fish and marine organisms. And the most popular inhabitant of the mountainous Asinara is the wild albino donkey, or the white donkey, which gave the island its name (“azino” in Italian “donkey”).
