When it comes to pirates at Asinara it must be emphasized that we do not have any historical certainties about it; therefore, it is always better to start the story about the pirate Red Beard with "it is said that" or "the legend tells that". Certainly there was the presence of pirates, as in the whole Mediterranean, and it is likely that they have been on the island of Asinara for quite some time and then were chased away.

Archaeological studies are so far behind that it has not yet been clarified whether the Castellaccio was built by the pirate Red Beard, as it has not yet been determined when the building was built. There are different schools of thought in this regard, at least three strands to follow, but unfortunately, until adequate archaeological excavations are made in those areas, neither the dates nor the presence of certain characters who contributed to making the history of the Asinara island. However, it is necessary to underline the importance of the studies carried out on the island by the University of Sassari, which will shortly publish studies on these issues.

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Who knows why the fate of this island has been so bloody at times, complete with pirates who stayed there to plunder passing ships or to make occasional raids in Porto Torres, the only inhabited center on kilometers of virgin coast. The pirate was called Red Beard and the remains of a castle remain, indeed a Castellaccio, which still has to be studied and excavated by scholars and archaeologists. There are no certainties about this character, it is said that he was an important exponent of an important Turkmen family with instance in Algiers and from there he left for the whole Mediterranean to make raids. The water channel between the Asinara and the Piana island is an obligatory passage for those who want to cross the Gulf of Asinara and the stronghold occupied by pirates was the ideal place for those who wanted to control the naval flow of that area.

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It is said that land raids were also made to kidnap people, enslave them and redistribute them in the Mediterranean. Sometimes when certain ships passed by, the pirates were able to confuse their navigation and run the boats aground near the coast, which were then more easily plundered of goods and men.

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The strategic position of the island of Asinara was too important to leave it in the hands of criminals, so, with a probable intervention by the institutions of the time, the pirates were chased away and of them only a legend remains to be told both to the little ones and to the older ones.