Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world, famous for its historical landmarks, architecture, cuisine, fashion and more. This means it can be pretty hard to come by locations that aren’t overrun with tourists.
However, a hidden gem located south west of Italy’s capital Rome offers beautiful beaches that could be mistaken for the Caribbean.
The glassy seas of La Maddalena archipelago can make you feel like you’re on another planet.
Located between Sardinia and Corsica, this spread of seven large islands and 55 tiny Isolotti (islets in Italian) has some of the most spectacular beaches in Italy, and some of the cleanest and clearest water.
Some of the islands are uninhabited. It doesn’t feel like the Mediterranean there, more like a rocky version of the Caribbean.
Maddalena is the main island and it is where you’ll want to be based – and La Maddalena is the biggest town. A good place to stay would be Hotel Villa del Parco. With an almost 5-star rating on TripAdvisor and 400 metre walk from Punta Tegge beach, you’ll find yourself able to enjoy all the island has to offer.
La Maddalena is a lively, cultured town, bustling with bars and restaurants, shops, cinemas and bookshops.
The best months to visit are June and September, because July and August see a significant increase in tourists.
The good news is that the numbers aren’t close to those of most of the Costa Smeralda, and you should always be able to locate a beach with plenty of room for you and your beach towel – with the exception of the beaches of La Maddalena close to the port.
You come here to escape the “real” world, as opposed to the crowded Costa Smeralda, where entertainment is available day and night.
The Maddalena chain consists of over sixty islands. These are the best of them:
The most famous of all the islands thanks to its famous pink beach – The Spiaggia Rosa. The pink hue comes from the powdered shells accumulated over the millennia and is distinctly “pink” early in the morning or early evening.
This island is accessible by car from La Maddalena as the two islands are connected by a bridge. It is more efficient however to walk or travel by mountain bike as only a few of the beaches can be reached by car.
This island is far more isolated than La Maddalena and Caprera and the only way to get there is to travel by boat. Some of the beaches to see include Cala Conneri and Cala Corsara, but there are lots of little ones all over the south and east coasts of the island.
Named after the archipelago itself, if you take the ferry across from Palau, you’ll arrive at the largest and busiestiIsland.
In the archipelago, swimming, sailing and long walks are the default activities.
On the west coast, Cala dei Francesi is a massive granite quarry from the 19th century that appears to have been abandoned overnight, resembling an industrial Pompeii. Huge three-legged winches loom like Richard Serra sculptures, rusting trolleys still sit on twisted iron tracks, and partially dressed blocks that still have the chisel marks from the quarrymen emerge from the weeds.
Tropical sea and sand can be found on the north coast at dune-backed beaches like Bassa Trinità, though algae can be an issue there.
Geologically connected to the pink granite rockscapes of Gallura in the northeastern part of Sardinia, the Maddalena islands are just 20 minutes away by ferry from the Sardinian port of Palau. In the same way that Sardinian “mainlanders” feel culturally different from the rest of Italy, Maddalenini have traditionally considered themselves apart from them.
History plays a significant role in this. Corsican shepherds were the first people to live on the islands in modern times. They brought their herds over the perilous Strait of Bonifacio in search of pasture that was free from taxes and cropping farmers’ competition. The Maddalena archipelago was merely neglected after Sardinia was given to the House of Savoy by the 1720 Treaty of The Hague, and the islands’ ambiguous jurisdictional status made them a haven for smugglers.
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Publish date : 2024-12-14 21:00:00
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The post The corner of Europe with hardly any tourists that’s as pretty as the Caribbean | Europe | Travel first appeared on Love Europe.
Author : love-europe
Publish date : 2024-12-19 01:15:18
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