Category: Italy

From CNN, an update (if not the last word) about Mauro Morandi, long-standing Italian hermit, mentioned several times in this blog:

“For nearly 33 years he lived a hermit life on a beautiful island in the Mediterranean, where he was the sole inhabitant. Mauro Morandi, known as Italy’s Robinson Crusoe after developing a loyal online following, was caretaker of the Sardinian island of Budelli, embracing silence, solitude, and the peacefulness of nature while living in an old beach stone hut.There was no social buzz, no fancy food, no friends — his only companions were birds and cats. He slept on a cot and had few clothes. Forsaking all comforts, he preached a monastic existence of self-reflection and meditation on Budelli’s pink beach dotted with coral dust. Then his blissful world came to an end. After years of struggling with marine park authorities that wanted to evict him to turn the isle into an environmental observatory, in May Morandi accepted his fate. After posting a pithy message of resignation — “My balls are broken” (slang for “I’m fed up”) — he left. Moving home and starting a new life can be tough for anyone. Even more so for an 82-year-old who has spent three decades living a solitary existence on a paradise island. Is it possible to move on and readjust? Says Morandi, the answer is an emphatic ‘yes!'”

URL: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mauro-morandi-italy-hermit-did-next/

Catholic news site Aleteia provides a summary article “A pilgrimage to the ‘small cells’ of St. Romuald,” including travelogue-style description and photos of the original Casentino, in the Tuscan Apennines. Though Romuald founded a monastery, he is better known for establishing a hermitage about two miles away, the classic form of desert hermit cells.

URL: https://aleteia.org/2021/06/09/a-pilgrimage-to-the-small-cells-of-st-romuald/

The “hermit” of the Sardinian island of Budelli has long been pressured by national park authorities to vacate the island, where he has been the sole inhabitant for over thirty years. But the threat of eviction has finally forced him to admit: “I have given up the fight,” which is the title of this Guardian (UK) update. Morandi says he will leave by the end of April. But he is only moving to another uninhabited island nearby.

URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/26/mauro-morandi-budelli-island-italy-robinson-crusoe

CNN reports on the latest Italian government effort to remove Mauro Morandi from his hermit life on the island of Budelli.

URL: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/budelli-hermit-eviction-morandi/index.html

The South China Morning Post reports on a contemporary Italian hermit: Fausto Mottalini. The article is titled “Self-isolation tips from a 21st century hermit in ‘ghost’ village in the Alps, where for 14 years he has been the only resident.” Excerpt:

Fausto Mottalini, 69, is the only inhabitant of a medieval Alpine “ghost hamlet” called Sostila in northern Italy. He has lived as a hermit for the past 14 years, and feels safe and protected in his little eyrie, even though the deserted village is in Lombardy. In Italy, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, Lombardy is the region which has seen the most Covid-19 cases.

Mottalini is a lucky man. As the sole resident of this hamlet, frozen in time, where even weekend tourists are a rare sight, there’s no risk of him bumping into anyone. He’s free to go out for long treks, where he can gaze across green valleys of sun-kissed meadows where cattle graze, framed by snow-capped mountain peaks.

“Things haven’t changed for me,” he says. “I keep doing the same stuff each day: I wake up early, cut wood for the fire, look after the orchard and greenhouse, and then go out hiking and rock climbing, shooting pictures of nature, flowers and the beautiful scenery. I come back at sunset and prepare dinner. I’m free to go out whenever I want.”