While everyone needs a place to live in, there are reclusive individuals preferring to live away from society.

Mauro Morandi, for example, emulated the classical literature character Robinson Crusoe by living alone on the isolated and tiny Mediterranean island of Budelli.

The introvert Italian originally tried to sail to Polynesia in 1989 but his catamaran got shipwrecked on Budelli. Morandi met its retiring sole caretaker and took over his job.

He lived in an old World War II shelter with a crude solar power system that he set up and fireplace to keep him warm during the cold winter months. The hermit cleaned the beaches and served as tourist guide to visitors, The Guardian reported.

In 2021, National Park officials wanted to convert the island into a center for environmental education so they relocated the then 81-year-old Morandi to a one-bedroom apartment in the island town of La Maddalena.

A fall injured Morandi that led to his transfer to an assisted living center in his hometown of Modena in mainland Italy, the Italian news outlet Giornale della Vela reported, according to New York Post (NYP). On 3 January, The New York Times reported that Morandi died of brain hemorrhage.

Meanwhile, the small population of a remote town in Alaska, United States has a unique housing that is captivating TikTokers and YouTubers.

Whittier is located on the coast of the Passage Canal, about 60 miles from the state capital Anchorage. There is no building and amenities in the town, except for the 14-storey Begich Towers Condominium.

Nikki Delventhal posted a video on TikTok describing Whittier as the strangest city in Alaska because the entire 263 residents live in the condo.

Delventhal added in the video that the population don’t even have to leave the building which has a post office, a corner store, a laundromat, a church, a tunnel to school, and an indoor playground, according to NYP.

One challenge for residents though is getting home by 10:30 p.m. as the only road to the city, a one-way tunnel that is 2.5 miles long, closes at that time. Those who are late would be left out in the cold for the night, Delventhal tells NYP.