Tavolara Island

The island and the surrounding waters are part of the Tavolara and Punta Coda Cavallo Marine Preserve created in 1997.

A rare species of thorny knapweed, Centaurea horrida, is endemic only to Tavolara and a few other fringe areas of northern Sardinia.

[2] In the 18th century, Sardinian lore claimed the wild goats of Tavolara had gold teeth.

Once the home of a thriving lobster industry, Tavolara now attracts divers who come to view the coral, sponges, sea anemones, bottlenose dolphins, and even a few specimens of Pinna nobilis, the rare giant clam whose byssus fibers were formerly used in the manufacture of sea silk for royal garments.

It is probably the island previously called Tolar, which was used by some Arab ships in 848–849 as a base to attack nearby coasts.

[5] In 1836 the imaginary kingdom of Tavolara was given to the Bertoleoni family by Charles Albert the King of Sardinia.

During his “reign”, in 1868 the Italian government began operating a lighthouse on the northeast end of the island.