Seven granite islands and dozens of smaller islets and rocks make up La Maddalena's archipelago, set in some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean and protected since 1994 as a national park.
Ferries from Palau reach the main town after a short crossing, but the real draw lies beyond it: Budelli's Spiaggia Rosa, its sand tinted pink by crushed coral and shell fragments, has been off limits to swimmers and anchors since 1998 and is now seen only from a boat gliding past. On Caprera, Giuseppe Garibaldi farmed and wrote through his last years; his white house, the Compendio Garibaldino, still holds his furniture and weapons, and the plain room where he died in 1882.
