Tavolara - a small island, which lies off the north-eastern coast of Sardinia and represents the limestone cliffs length of 5 km and a width of about 1 km. The highest peak of the island - Monte Kannon (565 meters). You can get here by boat or speedboat from Olbia - vessels can be moored in bays Spalmatore di Fuori in the northeast, or whether Spalmatore Terra in the southwest. Nearby islands Molara and Molarotto.

Today Tavolara, which is part of established in 1997 the reserve "Tavolara and Punta Coda Cavallo", inhabited by a few families who are engaged mainly in the tourism business. The island is a very popular destination among diving enthusiasts, who come here to admire the colonies of corals, sponges, sea anemones, bottlenose dolphins and rare giant clam Pinna nobilis.

The story is quite unusual Tavolara .  In the mid-18th century, when it was created by the Kingdom of Sardinia, the island was not included in its composition, and remained in family ownership Bertoleoni .  One hundred years later, in 1836, King Charles Albert of Sardinia, visiting Tavolara acknowledged Giuseppe Bertoleoni sovereign ruler .  It then came to his son Giuseppe, who in 1845 became King Paolo I .  After the unification of Italy in 1861, Tavolara again remained independent, Paolo and I even tried to get the sovereignty and recognition of the new state .  Only after his death in 1886 the monarchy was replaced in the island republic, and was introduced universal suffrage .  Truth already in 1899 the monarchy headed by Bertoleoni dynasty was restored - it recognized, even Queen Victoria of Great Britain, which sent a photographer here to take a picture for my collection of royal portraits .  In 1903, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy signed a treaty of friendship between the two countries .  Later rulers Tavolara succeeded each other, but on the island practically lived .  In 1962, died Paolo II, and was built on the Tavolara radiogoniometricheskaya station of NATO, putting an end to the actual existence of the independent Kingdom of Tavolara .  At the same time most of the population of the island was moved, and their place was taken by the military .  The current descendant of Bertoleoni - Tonino - manages a local restaurant «Da Tonino», as it is the case in Spice Prince Ernesto Geremia di Tavolara .  Today, Tavolara is a part of Italy, although officially announced the annexation has never been .

Among the interesting sights of Tavolara can be called a rock in the shape of a human figure, called "Stone Guard" or "Pontifical rock." Other eye-catching rock formations - "The arc of Ulysses' (natural arch) and the Grotta del Papa (cave with cave paintings Neolithic). On Tavolara thorny knapweed grows - endemic species, found only here. And since the 1960s in the coastal waters of the island there is a colony of monk seal, a species endangered.