La Maddalena Archipelago Park
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
The La Maddalena Archipelago National Park can only be reached by sea: there is no direct road access to the archipelago. The only embarkation point is the port of Palau, in north-eastern Gallura in Sardinia, from where the Delcomar and Maddalena Lines shipping companies make regular crossings to the port of Cala Gavetta on the island of La Maddalena, with a journey time of around 15-20 minutes. They run at varying frequencies - every 30 minutes at peak times, every hour in the evening hours - and operate all year round, with an increased service in the summer months. Vehicles can be boarded by both companies. To reach Palau by car, from Olbia take the state road Orientale Sarda towards Arzachena-Palau for about 40km; from Santa Teresa Gallura take the state road for about 40km. The airport of reference is the Costa Smeralda in Olbia, about 45km from Palau; from the airport, the port of Palau can be reached by the ARST company buses on the Olbia-Palau line. The Trenitalia (TI) railway serves the Olbia station, from where bus lines continue to Palau; in the summer season, the Ferrovie della Sardegna (Sardinian Railways) provide a connection with the Trenino Verde (Green Train) to Palau and Tempio. Once on the island of La Maddalena, the connection to Caprera - the second largest island - is via the Passo della Moneta bridge. The smaller islands of the archipelago can only be reached by sea, via boat trips organised from the ports of La Maddalena, Palau, Baja Sardinia and Porto Cervo. The headquarters of the Park Authority is located in La Maddalena, Via Giulio Cesare 7.
.Introduction
The La Maddalena Archipelago National Park is located in the north-east of Sardinia, in the waters of the Bocche di Bonifacio (Strait of Bonifacio), and includes the entire territory of the municipality of La Maddalena in the province of Sassari. It is the first national park to be established in Sardinia, the only one in Italy consisting exclusively of an entire municipal territory and one of the two Italian national parks - along with the Tuscan Archipelago National Park - with both terrestrial and marine components. Established by Law No. 10 of 4 January 1994 and regulated by the managing body established by the Presidential Decree of 17 May 1996, the park covers a total area of approximately 201.80 hectares, of which 51 km² are on land and approximately 150 km² on sea, stretching along 180 km of coastline. The territory includes more than 60 islands, islets and rocks, shaped by the action of the mistral, currents and sea storms from the Bocche di Bonifacio: the main ones are La Maddalena, Caprera, Budelli, Razzoli, Santa Maria, Santo Stefano and Spargi. Almost the entire archipelago is a Site of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European Habitats and Birds Directives.
Description
The La Maddalena archipelago is the geological product of processes initiated during the Hercynian orogeny at the end of the Palaeozoic. The substratum is predominantly granitic, with outcrops of schistose and metamorphic rocks on the smaller islands. The intense erosive action of the wind - particularly the mistral - and the currents of the Strait have shaped the island surfaces into characteristic sculptural forms: rock towers, natural arches, labyrinthine inlets and grit beaches. The coastline, a total of 180 km, presents a variety of morphologies ranging from sheer cliffs to fine sandy beaches, from low cliffs to coastal dunes. The Bocche di Bonifacio - the approximately 12 km-long strait separating Sardinia from Corsica - causes intense currents and a regime of strong winds that have made this stretch of sea historically challenging for navigation and at the same time a corridor of biological dispersion between the two major islands of the western Mediterranean.
The terrestrial flora includes more than 700 plant entities, equal to about one third of the entire Sardinian flora, with more than 50 endemic species that account for 25% of Sardinia's total endemisms. Mediterranean scrub dominates the islands with dense formations of Phoenician juniper (Juniperus phoenicea), strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus), myrtle (Myrtus communis), phillyrea, heather, cistus (Cistus sp.) and euphorbia. On the islands of Razzoli the Artemisia densiflora constitutes a localised endemism closely linked to the intense wind conditions. On the island of Caprera, there are pine forests of stone pine (Pinus pinea), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), linked according to local tradition to the presence of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Coastal dunes and dune ecosystems - priority habitats under the Habitats Directive - complete the picture of protected terrestrial environments. The most important and characteristic vegetation element of the park, however, is underwater: the prairies of Posidonia oceanica, an endemic marine phanerogama of the Mediterranean, cover large portions of the seabed between the islands, constituting one of the most extensive and best-preserved habitats of priority Community interest in the entire Mediterranean basin. The Pink Beach on the island of Budelli owes its colour to the presence on the shoreline of the calcareous shells of the foraminifera Miniacina miniacea, a microscopic organism whose habitat is closely dependent on the rhizomes of Posidonia; access to the beach is prohibited to preserve its integrity.
The marine fauna is exceptionally rich. On the seabed of the Straits of Bonifacio, sedentary populations of brown grouper, corvina and seabream thrive; the encrusting red seaweed Lithophyllum lichenoides and the giant limpet (Patella ferruginea) - both included in the IUCN Red List of threatened species - are present with significant colonies on the reefs exposed to currents. The pinna nobilis (Pinna nobilis), the largest bivalve mollusc in the Mediterranean, frequents the calmest seabeds in association with Posidonia. Among marine mammals, there are regular sightings of the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) and bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus); the sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is frequent in the waters of the park. The avifauna of the islands includes breeding colonies of the greater shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) and lesser shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan), thebird of storms (Hydrobates pelagicus) and the Corsican seagull (Ichthyaetus audouinii), one of the archipelago's most significant colonies of this protected species in the Mediterranean. The tufted shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) nests on inaccessible cliffs.
The archipelago remained uninhabited until the mid-17th century, when a small colony of shepherds of Corsican origin settled on the island of La Maddalena. The earliest documented settled structures are the Roman military stations and the monastery of monks on the island of Santa Maria, dating back to the 13th century. The village of La Maddalena was founded in 1770 under the rule of the House of Savoy; the archipelago's strategic position in the Straits of Bonifacio - a maritime traffic hub in the western Mediterranean - made it a port of call and military garrison of European interest over the centuries, frequented by Napoleon Bonaparte, among others, during the Sardinian campaign in 1793 and by Admiral Horatio Nelson in 1804. The best-known link between the archipelago and Italian history is the one with Giuseppe Garibaldi, who spent the last 26 years of his life on the island of Caprera; his house, known as the Compendio Garibaldino - with the Camera Ardente, the Casa Bianca and the tomb - is now a national museum. The park was established by Law No. 10 of 4 January 1994 and is part of the future International Marine Park of the Bouches de Bonifacio, a project shared with France that would include the Réserve naturelle des Bouches de Bonifacio on the Corsican side.
Activities in the park are subject to authorisation: nautical boating, sports fishing, scuba diving and economic activities at sea require specific permits issued by the managing body. The environmental education and cetacean research centres are located in Stagnali, on the island of Caprera, together with the Mineralogical and Sea Museums. The Nino Lamboglia Museum on La Maddalena preserves materials of underwater archaeology. The paths in Caprera and on the island of La Maddalena itself allow for hikes through the Mediterranean maquis and views of the surrounding islands.
Information
General data
Typology: National Park (geo-marine)
Year of creation: 1994 (Law no. 10 of 4 January 1994); managing body established by Presidential Decree of 17 May 1996
Managing body: Ente Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago di La Maddalena
Reference body: Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica
Territorial area: 51.34 km²
Marine area: approx. 150.46 km²
Total surface area: approx. 201.80 km²
Coastal development: 180km
Minimum altitude: 0m (sea level)
Maximum altitude: [to be completed - Caprera approx. 212m]
Region(s): Sardinia
Province(s): Sassari
Municipality(ies) concerned: La Maddalena
Official website: https://www.lamaddalenapark.en