Far from the madding crowd - July's G8 meet heads to sea

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The 35th G8 meeting is to be held on an island off the northern coast of Sardinia only which can only be reached by sea.  The tiny holiday resort has been chosen by Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi  to play host to leaders from the world's largest economies from 3rd to 13th July.

Seeking to avoid the scenes of mass protests and the controversies that surrounded the previous and G8 and G20 summits in Seattle, Genoa and most recently, London the former NATO base on Santo Stefano has been chosen as the venue by this year's host country, Italy. As well as the Italian vessel, MSC Fantasia two Cypriot registered luxury cruise liners, the M/V Aquamarine and M/V Orient Queen have been chartered by the Italian government to help accommodate the 9,000 officials and members of the media scheduled to attend the conference.

The leaders of the 35th G8 summit are expected to discusses issues such as the present global economic crisis, climate change, counter terrorism and African development.

The picturesque La Maddalena chain of islands has long been associated with famous historical figures such as Lord Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Giuseppe Garibaldi. However the official G8 site failed to mention a more recent  historical association, namely that of Benito Mussolini, the head of the Italy's fascist government during World War Two was also a guest in La Maddalena, albeit involuntarily when he was held prisoner there in 1943 by the Italian authorities.