The Town
La Maddalena is the largest town in the Maddalena archipelago, just 2 kilometres from the northeastern shore of Sardinia and sitting in the Straits of Bonifacio, between it and Corsica.
The focal-point of pedestrian activity is found around Piazza Umberto I (formerly known as Piazza Comando-the older generation of natives in town still commonly refer to the piazza by its original name). There is an adjacent via (Garibaldi) that connects the port (Banchina Commerciale I) facing the Island of Santo Stefano and Piazza Umberto I with city hall. Via Garibaldi is surrounded by commercial shops, restaurants, and bars.
La Maddalena now derives much of its income from tourism. The only method of traveling to La Maddalena is by boat, with car ferries travelling from nearby Palau and from the Italian mainland.
The natives of La Maddalena speak a Sardo-Corsican dialect known as Maddalenino. A comprehensive survey on the dialect, including a concise history of the island and its people, can be found in Renzo De Martino's Il dizionario maddalenino: Glossario etimologico comparato
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Famous quotes containing the words the town and/or town:
“The name of the town isn’t important. It’s the one that’s just twenty-eight minutes from the big city. Twenty-three if you catch the morning express. It’s on a river and it’s got houses and stores and churches. And a main street. Nothing fancy like Broadway or Market, just plain Broadway. Drug, dry good, shoes. Those horrible little chain stores that breed like rabbits.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“O little town of Bethlehem,
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—Phillips Brooks (1835–1893)