La Maddalena

The village of La Maddalena (A Madalena in Gallura, Sa Madalena in Sardinian) is located on the main island of the homonymous archipelago, constituted by the following islands: La Maddalena, Caprera, Santo Stefano, Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria, Razzoli; other small islands as: Giardinelli, Mortorio, Chiesa, Spargiotto more other smaller islets.

Frequented since the Neolithic (there were findings in tafoni toward the beaches of Spalmatore), following the fall of the Roman Empire of the West the archipelago of La Maddalena was abandoned by man until the seventeenth century, when there dwelt corsican shepherds coming from the Alta Rocca. The village of La Maddalena, dating back to the eighteenth century, rises to the south of the main island and overlooks toward Palau.

On 23 February 1793 the island had to cope with the attempt of the invasion of the French army to control which there was a young journal course named Napoleon Bonaparte. The French were detained by the Sardinian fleet controlled by Maddalena Domenico Millelire, who became the first gold medal for military valor of the Italian Navy.

La Maddalena and the whole archipelago are included inside the National Park of the Archipelago of La Maddalena, a protected area marine and terrestrial of national and Community interest. The renowned tourist resort, has in its territory many beaches, like the famous Pink Beach, arenile to maximum environmental protection located north west of the Archipelago in the island of Budelli, famous for being the set of the film red desert of Michelangelo Antonioni.

The archipelago is also known for being the last residence of the hero of the two worlds of Giuseppe Garibaldi who built, at Caprera the famous "White House", today Home Museum open to the public and where you can visit the tomb where it rests.

The dialect of Maddalena (isulanu), similar to the gallurese, being the result of immigrations from Corsica eighteenth, nineteenth-century (and therefore relatively recent) is what more has affinity with the modern dialects of course, in particular with the hinterland of Bonifacio and Porto Vecchio, while other dialects Gallura are more similar to the conservative variants of Sartenese and of the Alta Rocca, even if with some nuances characteristics because of the genoese contamination, in the area of La Spezia and ponzesi.

The military stronghold has represented the main economic resource for at least a century but today has lost much of its strategic importance also considered that the US base of submarines support present on the island of Santo Stefano was divested definitively on 25 January 2008. However, the island still hosts a school commissioned officers of the Italian Navy, in addition to being the seat of the Maritime and important center of control of maritime traffic in the Strait of Bonifacio.

Very important for the economy of La Maddalena was for almost two centuries the granite quarry located at Cala Francese, renowned for the quality of the material: in fact the 'works' formed by the stonecutters maddalenini were required throughout the world, a metropolitan legend would like the granite base of the Statue of Liberty was made of granite of Maddalena. Important was also the market of La Maddalena, situated close to the Municipality, which over the years has lost many shops interiors. Fishing is little practiced and almost exclusively with pots and networks because of the area rocky and protected park.

The seaside tourism naturalistic and thanks also to the marine park borders, without doubt represents the future of this archipelago. La Maddalena is renowned throughout the world for its beaches and for the clarity and the transparency of its waters that resemble those of the Caribbean.