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Italian Robinson Crusoe Forced to Leave Beloved Island

Sea lions bask on rocks on Robinson Crusoe Island, in the Pacific Juan Fernandez Islands, off the coast of Chile, on January 30, 2019. (AFP/Ana Fernandez)
Sea lions bask on rocks on Robinson Crusoe Island, in the Pacific Juan Fernandez Islands, off the coast of Chile, on January 30, 2019. (AFP/Ana Fernandez)
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Italian Robinson Crusoe Forced to Leave Beloved Island

Sea lions bask on rocks on Robinson Crusoe Island, in the Pacific Juan Fernandez Islands, off the coast of Chile, on January 30, 2019. (AFP/Ana Fernandez)
Sea lions bask on rocks on Robinson Crusoe Island, in the Pacific Juan Fernandez Islands, off the coast of Chile, on January 30, 2019. (AFP/Ana Fernandez)

A man known as Italy's Robinson Crusoe who has lived alone on a Mediterranean island for more than 30 years after running into difficulties in the sea, has said he is finally surrendering to pressure from authorities to leave and will be moving to a small apartment, reported The Guardian.

Mauro Morandi, 81, stumbled across Budelli, a Mediterranean island off Sardinia, in 1989, after his catamaran broke down on the way to the south Pacific. In a fortuitous twist of fate, Morandi discovered that the island's caretaker was about to retire, and so he abandoned the sailing trip, sold his boat and took over the role.

Since then, Morandi, whose home is a former Second World War shelter overlooking a bay, has got to know every rock, tree and animal species of the rugged islet.

Morandi said he had decided to leave at the end of the month after several threats of eviction from the La Maddalena national park authorities, which have been managing Budelli since 2016 and want to reclaim his home and turn the island into what has been described as a hub for environmental education.

"I have given up the fight. After 32 years here, I feel very sad to leave. They told me they need to do work on my house and this time it seems to be for real," he said.

Morandi, originally from Modena in central Italy, said he was moving into a small apartment on nearby La Maddalena, the largest island of the archipelago.

"I'll be living in the outskirts of the main town, so will just go there for shopping and the rest of the time keep myself to myself. My life won't change too much, I'll still see the sea," he said. As for Budelli, he said: "I hope that someone can protect it as well as I have."

For years, Morandi guarded the island without trouble, but his role came under threat when the private company that owned the island went bankrupt. Plans to sell it in 2013 to Michael Harte, a businessman from New Zealand who pledged to keep Morandi on as caretaker, were thwarted amid protests and an intervention by the Italian government.

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Warm Clothing, Hot Pot and Even Ice Cream Bars Feature at China’s Ice Capital

Visitors tour by the ice structures during the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP)
Visitors tour by the ice structures during the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP)
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Warm Clothing, Hot Pot and Even Ice Cream Bars Feature at China’s Ice Capital

Visitors tour by the ice structures during the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP)
Visitors tour by the ice structures during the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP)

Faced with temperatures dipping to -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), visitors to China's wintertime resort city of Harbin often make a beeline for stalls selling padded clothing to augment their wardrobes.

Oddly perhaps for some, frozen ice cream bars are also considered a key part of the visit.

Each winter, the industrial city in China's northeast turns into a magnet for those from China's balmier regions wanting to experience the extreme cold and take in the sculptures built from ice blocks carved from the Songhua River, which freezes from late October to late March.

“I searched for tips on the internet and am now wearing knitted wool pants and the thickest sweater possible,” said Jin Yiting, who was visiting with her parents from the financial hub of Shanghai, where a light jacket is usually sufficient winter garb.

Jin Yanlong runs a stall selling winter hats, gloves and boots in the park. He said that most of his customers are tourists from southern China who underestimate the frigid weather in Harbin.

“Some of the tourists wear ‘too thin.’ They come here immediately from the airport. They would find us to buy warm trousers padded with cotton,” Jin said.

Despite the freezing weather, some curious tourists are brave enough to taste the cold itself. Zhuang Chang and his friend enjoyed their Madie’er ice cream bars while strolling on a commercial street whose architecture reflects the Russian influence on the city. The brand was established in 1900s by a Russian company and has steadily grown in popularity among tourists.

“It’s cold, but my heart is warm,” Zhuang said. He also compared the humid cold months of his hometown in Zhejiang province, where “people would be frozen to the core when being hit by wind.”

“But here only my hands and face feel cold,” Zhuang said.

For those seeking a warmer alternative, there are hot drinks and steaming hot pot, a kind of stew mixing meat, vegetables, tofu and other favorites.

Restaurant owner Chi Xuewen claims to own the world's largest hot pot, where 18 individual pots featuring a variety of flavors circle the giant bowl.

“Eating anything in a hot pot makes people warm,” Chi said.

Li Long’s restaurant uses wood both to cook the food and warm the air in the ice block structure.

“The pot also radiates heat,” Li said. “Once the pot cover is lifted, customers see the hot food. In one word, it just feels hot.”

Prolonged cold has left local residents with few options for fresh vegetables, so frozen food has become an alternative. Frozen tofu left outside overnight becomes porous and is particularly good at soaking up soup and flavor, local resident Liu Xiaohui said.