Island of Asinara · homonymous gulf
Asinara National Park
An island-park where time has stopped, 20 minutes by ferry
✽ 20 min ferry from the Port of Stintino
Asinara is an island-park of fifty-one square kilometres standing off the Gulf of Stintino, reachable in twenty minutes by ferry from Porto Mannu. Its name comes from the albino white donkeys — unique in the world — that still populate it, but its true peculiarity is its history: from the end of the 19th century until 1997, Asinara was an agricultural penal colony and then a maximum-security prison, inaccessible to anyone who was not an inmate or a prison officer. This forced isolation saved the island from any urbanisation: now a National Park, it is a plunge into the Sardinia of a hundred years ago — deserted coves, sheer coastlines, an intact Mediterranean scrub and a silence rare in Europe.
From penal colony to National Park
In 1885 — the same years when Stintino was being born — the Italian government expropriated the fishing families who lived on Asinara, assigning the island to an agricultural penal colony: a facility where inmates lived in a semi-open regime, worked the land and kept livestock. During the First World War it held up to 24,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners, many of whom died of cholera. In 1975, after the uprising in some mainland prisons, Asinara was turned into a maximum-security prison: here mafia bosses such as Totò Riina and Leoluca Bagarella, Red Brigades and Camorra terrorists were held. The prison was closed in 1997, and the following year the island was declared a National Park. You can still visit the different prison sectors at Cala d'Oliva, Fornelli and Trabuccato, today witnesses of a recent era.
Wildlife and landscape
Asinara is one of the most intact ecosystems in the Mediterranean. Here you'll find the famous albino white donkeys (Equus asinus var. albina) — about one hundred and twenty specimens, encountered free on the island's pastures — together with mouflons, wild boar, wild goats and an extraordinary variety of seabirds and migratory species: shags, peregrine falcons, Mediterranean shearwaters, Audouin's gulls. The waters around the island are a Marine Protected Area and host seagrass, groupers, dentex, sea breams and, with some luck, Caretta caretta turtles and dolphins. The landscape alternates sheer granite coasts (especially on the western side), sandy coves (Cala Sabina, Cala dei Ponzesi, Cala Sant'Andrea), vineyards on the southern plain and holm-oak woods.
How to visit the island
Asinara can only be visited as part of organised excursions — private boats cannot dock freely. The most popular options are the electric off-road tour (about 6 hours, €45), which covers key points from Fornelli to Cala d'Oliva; the bike tour (about 6 hours, €35, bike included), for those who want to move independently at a slower pace; and boat excursions with snorkelling in the most beautiful coves (half a day, €50–80). All cooperatives have kiosks at Porto Mannu. Bring water, a hat, comfortable shoes (for the off-road tour, also wear a swimsuit under your clothes — cove stops are planned): there are no supermarkets on the island, only a bar-restaurant at Cala d'Oliva open in the warmer months. In August it is essential to book at least a week in advance.
Go deeper