Asinara Island (Sardinia): what to see in the natural park


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What to see in the Asinara national park, an island in Sardinia, famous for being the place where a maximum security prison was once in operation.


Tourist information

Located in the north west of Sardinia, from which it is separated by a narrow channel, the Asinara island, belonging to the Municipality of Porto Torres, is uninhabited.

The territory is largely mountainous, with the highest point corresponding to Punta della Scomunica, with its 408 meters of altitude.


The coasts are high and jagged, alternating with beaches and coves, among which Cala Arena and Cala Sant'Andrea are famous.

The island's vegetation consists of the classic Mediterranean scrub, with few woods, given the scarcity of waterways, a factor that contributes to making the land very arid.

What see

On the island, in the late 1800s, buildings were built to house an agricultural penal colony and a quarantine maritime health station, for this reason various lands were expropriated, forcing the inhabitants to move to the new village of Stintino, on the nearby coast of Sardinia .


Following these changed conditions, the island was closed to the public.

The penitentiary was a maximum security prison, and the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino temporarily stayed on the island, who carried on their heroic work in the guesthouse of Cala d’Oliva.

In 1998, with the birth of the Asinara National Park, the prison was closed.

Asinara National Park - SARDEGNA (March 2024)


Tags: Sardinia
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