ABSTRACT
Off the northwestern corner of the Italian island of Sardinia lies a small, cliffringed island called Asinara (the name derives from the donkeys that once grazed the island's steep but lush hills). Asinara is a rarity in the overdeveloped and overexploited Mediterranean Sea – it is almost pristine, preserved intact by its designation, over a century ago, as an island penitentiary. Its status as a maximum security prison meant that not only the land remained undeveloped, but that the seas surrounding it were also preserved, through a no-entry zone that extended 10km offshore.
