All Rights reserved by scratchMapSardinia.com
Discovering
the Island
Main Attractions Edition
The first scratch map of Sardinia, you will discover 40 attractions of the Island. Each of them will make you know more local elements.
3 - LA MADDALENA
CAPRERA
The Archipelago of La Maddalena is located in the northern end of Sardinia, in the Bocche di Bonifacio, and consists of 62 islands and islets for a total of 180 km of coastline. The biggest islands are La Maddalena, Caprera (the only inhabited ones), Santo Stefano, Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria and Razzoli.
The whole archipelago is part of the National Park of the same name and the municipality of La Maddalena, which has more than 11,000 inhabitants.
It is known that it has been frequented since the Neolithic period, but few testimonies remain. The entire archipelago was completely abandoned after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages it was part of the Giudicato of Gallura but was inhabited only by a group of monks.
It was not until the end of the XVII century that a community of shepherds from Corsica arrived and began to live there sedentarily.
In 1767 the area was occupied by a military detachment and consequently the first urban agglomeration was formed at Cala Gavetta.
In 1793 there was an attempt to conquer the Archipelago by the French army, led by the still young Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte. He himself managed to land on the Island of Santo Stefano, but was forced to withdraw from the fleet commanded by Domenico Millelire (who won the first gold medal for military valor in the history of the Italian Navy).
From 1856 the Island of Caprera was the home of Giuseppe Garibaldi. The General moved in a difficult period of his life, after the death of Anita, the fall of the Roman Republic, the abandonment of his sons and spent the last 26 years of his life there. Here, in the house of Caprera, he found the strength and serenity to go on in his battles. The house is now a museum open to the public, where you can see the relics, tools and testimonies of the owner. In the living room of the house-museum you can also admire a reading desk donated to the General by Queen Margherita di Savoia. You can also visit the room where the leader died, with the bed facing a window from which you can see the coast of Corsica, and the tomb with the small family cemetery.
To Giuseppe Garibaldi, in addition to the House-Museum and the area of the Garibaldi Compendium, are dedicated some monuments scattered throughout the Archipelago, including the one inaugurated in 1902 in Caprera, and the Garibaldi Column, erected in 1907, 17 meters high, with the economic contribution of many municipalities and associations throughout Sardinia.
The village of Stagnali, Caprera, is home to the Environmental Education Centre (CEA), which houses the La Maddalena Archipelago National Park Authority, the G. Cesaraccio Geo-Mineralogical-Naturalistic Museum and the Museum of the Sea and Maritime Traditions.
The Archipelago of La Maddalena boasts a whole series of attractions including:
-Nino Lamboglia Naval Museum;
-Church of Santa Maria Maddalena;
- Diocesan Museum of La Maddalena;
-Cala Corsara;
-Beach of Cala Coticcio.
