The island of Asinara, probably inhabited since the Neolithic period, was the scene of numerous battles, assaults and colonisations from Roman times to the Middle Ages. Subsequently, the island went through a period of relative tranquillity. In 1885, 411 people lived on the island, divided into 89 families, 42 of which were fishermen and 47 shepherds and farmers; 46 lived in Cala d'Oliva, 10 in Cala Reale, 17 in Fornelli and 16 in the various sheepfolds (cuili). In the same year, due to a serious cholera epidemic, the government decided to establish an agricultural penal colony in the village of Cala d'Oliva and a hospital, later called the Maritime Sanitary Quarantine Station, in Cala Reale and issued a law authorizing the expropriation of the Island. The shepherds and residents of Cala Reale were transferred to different areas of Sardinia by force, while 45 families residing in Cala d'Oliva obtained the territory in front of the Island where they founded the lovely town of Stintino. With the outbreak of the First World War, the hospital was enlarged and used as a detention camp for Austro-Hungarian prisoners. The Austro-Hungarian Chapel, the health station and the Ossuary built in 1936 to collect the remains of prisoners who died on the island in Cala Reale belong to this period. Asinara ceased to be a military prison in 1919. At the beginning of the 70s, for the entire period of the "years of lead", a maximum security prison was established on the island in which some of the most dangerous criminals belonging to organized crime were detained, such as the Mafia member Totò Riina, the Brigate Rosse member Renato Curcio and the Camorra member Raffaele Cutolo. The prison was abandoned in 1997 and in the same year the Asinara National Park was established.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
The Island of Asinara, with an area of about 51 km², 18 km long in a straight line and with a coastal perimeter of 110 km, represents the extreme North of Sardinia and overlooks the wonderful town of Stintino and the crystalline waters of the Isola Piana and La Pelosa beach. Its name, Asinara, would derive from the one given to it by the Romans, Sinuaria, due to the numerous inlets. The West coast is steep and rocky with cliffs that can reach up to 200 m in height while the East coast is generally low and sandy with numerous beaches including: Cala Sant'Andrea, Ossario beach, Trabuccato, Punta Sabina, Cala Arena and many other smaller ones. Among these, Cala Sant'Andrea and Cala Arena are integral nature reserve areas, inaccessible both from sea and from land, for the protection of the fauna that nests and reproduces there, in particular the Caretta caretta turtle.
FLORA & FAUNA
The vegetation of Asinara is mainly made up of mastic, wild olive, Phoenician juniper and Euphorbia arborea; the latter is one of the most striking as, in the spring months, it gives colors ranging from green to orange and red. A single wooded area of a few hectares is present in the Elighe Mannu and it is an important holm oak wood. On the island there are also 30 endemic species (5% of the total flora) 3 of which are exclusive to Sardinia: the Centaurea horrida which lives on schists, granite and limestone, the Limonium acutifolium present along the entire coast and the Limonium laetum which can instead be found in the coastal ponds to the South of the island, in Cala Reale, Campu Perdu and in a small beach in Cala d'Oliva. As regards the fauna, over 80 species of terrestrial vertebrates belonging to the classes of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are reported on the island. Among the most important species from a naturalistic point of view we can mention: the Audouin's gull, the common tern, the Scopoli's and Manx shearwater, the mouflon, the common tortoise, the common shag and the white donkey (Equus asinus "albino" variant ). The latter represents a particularity of the island and its origin is uncertain even if the most probable hypothesis is that it derives from the gray donkeys due to the appearance of the albinism character. Furthermore, sheep, horses and pigs can also be found on the Island.