How One of the World’s Last Hermits Is Coping With Coronavirus
From his isolated island in the Mediterranean Sea, Mauro Morandi watches as the world shutters to halt the spread of COVID-19. He’s not particularly worried for himself, but he’s not exactly hopeful about the future either.
By Jessie Schiewe
“Modern-Day Hermits” is an ongoing series about the rare and fascinating people who’ve chosen solitude over everything else. Read more of the series here.
Now might be the best time in recent history to be a hermit.
With coronavirus traveling across the globe, transmitted from one person to the next, it’s never been more ideal to be a loner who lives on an isolated island.
That’s been the reality for Mauro Morandi, a modern-day hermit who’s lived on an island off the coast of Italy for more than 30 years. Now 81, the former teacher has lived alone in a stone cottage on Budelli since July 1989 when a catamaran he’d been planning to sail to Polynesia broke down near the small island that lies between Sardinia and Corsica.
Granted, his access to the rest of the world isn’t entirely cut-off. Tourists occasionally stop by Budelli, especially in the summer months, to see the island’s famed pink sandy shores, and supplies and food are sent to him regularly from the mainland via boat.
When the Italian government installed Wi-Fi on the island a few years ago, Morandi got a cell phone. He now regularly posts photos to Instagram and has even published a memoir about his hermit life on Amazon Kindle.
He also keeps up with the news.
Morandi may be 170 miles away from the mainland, but he’s not unaware of the crisis going on around him — both in his home country and on the planet itself. He keeps up with the latest coronavirus developments through his phone and even agreed to a recent phone interview with CNN Travel.
“I am fine. I’m not scared,” Morandi told the reporter. “I feel safe here. This island offers total protection. No risks at all. Nobody lands, not even a single boat can be seen sailing by.”
Since Italy’s shutdown against the spread of coronavirus, tourists and explorers have stopped visiting Budelli and Morandi must now wait longer for the boats to bring him food from the mainland.
But other than that, little has changed for the modern-day hermit.
“They’re facing tough times,” he said of his friends, family, and countrymen who are now holed up indoors.
Though he can’t relate entirely to the situations they now find themselves in, being a hermit and living without others for 31 years has given him insight into how to stay sane and avoid cabin fever. Rather than getting upset about self-quarantining, he thinks people should embrace the new conditions as a chance to do some soul-searching and self-improvement.
“I spend each winter shut in my house for months on end. I hardly wander across the island, but instead I kill time on the front porch under the canopy,” he said. “So what the heck? People can’t stay at home for two weeks? That’s absurd.”
Up until recently, Morandi spent much of his time on Budelli with a feline friend who passed away not long ago. She was at least 20 years old.
But during inclement weather, when Morandi is stuck indoors, he also partakes in activities to keep his mind stimulated and alert.
“I read a lot, and think,” he said. “Many people are scared of reading because if they do, they’ll start meditating and thinking about stuff, and that can be dangerous.
“If you start seeing things under a different light and be critical, you could end up seeing what a miserable life you lead or what a bad person you are or the bad things you did.”
So will this forced period of quarantine be a chance for humans to reflect on their lives and possibly even become better people?
Morandi wouldn’t bet on it.
“I don’t believe in the healing power of people to change,” he said. “Perhaps some individuals will, but the majority are too accustomed to comforts and frenetic lifestyles.”
JESSIE SCHIEWE IS THE EDITOR OF OK WHATEVER. SHE BELIEVES IN MERMAIDS AND THRIFT SHOPS FOR EXERCISE.
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