Uninhabited because of its granitic and rugged nature, it has an almost circular shape, with few coves and countless sandy bays. Spargi is located across the western coasts of the Maddalena, and is the third largest island of the Maddalena Archipelago National Park, with a surface of over four square kilometres. It is accompanied by its “smaller sister”, Spargiotto, where rare bird species nest: European shags, Audouin’s gulls and European storm petrels. Not too far west rises the Spartigiotello cliff and its shallows, split in half by a sand channel, a paradise for divers. The seabed is surprising: large underwater attractions include the Washington shallows, Punta Zanotto, coloured red by soft corals, and Spargi wreck, a Roman craft (35 metres long) dated 2nd century BC, discovered in 1939. Part of its load is in exhibition at the Nino Lamboglia Museum in the Maddalena.