Asinara Island National Park

The National Park (and former penal island) of Asinara off the coast of Stintino in Sardinia

The town of Stintino is actually brand-new—in Italian terms—built in 1885 when the Italian government turned the long, sinuous offshore island of Asinara into a penal colony and relocated its 45 families of fishermen to this nearby peninsula.

Now a national park, Asinara has become the top daytrip destination for Stintino sunbathers.     

The standard all-day visit, which you can book at any of a dozen travel agencies in town or at your hotel, includes the boat ride over and a guided tour of the island aboard a tiny open tourist "train" that rumbles over the roads, stops for photo-ops—especially if the driver spots one of the islands' famous miniature white donkeys—and pauses for visits to a small park museum and to the spooky abandoned main prison.

What had begun as a laid-back agricultural prison where prisoners worked the land and raised cattle was eventually transformed into a maximum-security penitentiary for right wing terrorists (1970s) and captured mafia dons (1990s).

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