Plato wrote that the Realm of Atlantis was beyond the Pillars of Ercules, which for centuries were believed to be the promontories of the Strait of  Gibraltar.  In recent years, an Italian historian published a very controversial book stating that from the look of the geographical maps in use at Plato times, the famous Pillars of Ercules were to be located in the Sicilian Strait and not in Gibraltar’s. Therefore, Sardinia was likely to be Atlantis and the catastrophe that destroyed it then, was probably a tzunami that many believe devastated and ended the Sardinian ancient Nuraghe civilization.
True? False?  who knows…surely fascinating. Surely some parts of Sardinia do look like paradise on earth and at some point you may want to dream, as I do, that this is the Realm of Atlantis!

Talking about books, another interesting one was recently published by a Spanish writer (Marisa Azuara). This time about Christopher Columbus, who until then was believed to be born nearby the Italian city of Genova. For two years the writer searched important documents of Italian and Spanish libraries trying to recreate the family tree of the so much famous sailor and explorer Columbus. Her discovery is sensational, Columbus was born in South Sardinia and specifically in the Castle of Sanluri, a little and nearly unknown village. According to her, his real name was “Cristoforo da Siena e Alagon”. He lived  in Oristano, Tortoli and Castlesardo where he studied the “art of sailing”, although at the time North Sardinia was actually in the hands of Genova.  True? Probably we will never know..

Anyway, let me tell you now about a couple, among the many, of pure Sardinian legends. During your holiday in Sardinia, you might happen to visit some historic and archaeological sites or even some churches, bars or restaurants that have got wells inside. They are very often dug into the stone and many of these are still visible to visitors and guests. To these wells, is linked the Sardinian legend of ” Sa strega e is funtanasa” which translates in “the Witch and the wells”.
This is the tale of a monster witch who would eat any child who looked or even tried to have a quick glimpse of the well’s inside. Where does the legend come from? It is likely that, as many houses use to have their own well, parents would tell this story to their children to discourage them from approaching and dangerously fall inside the well itself. At the same purpose a scary witch looking doll was placed nearby the well..just to remind the children of the terrible danger.

Another one? If you are visiting Cagliari and South-Sardinia, then you must learn the legend of the “Angels Gulf”, which is the Gulf where Cagliari is located (Golfo degli Angeli) and that stretches from Capo Spartivento to Capo Carbonara.  Its name does not seem to come from his beauty, but from a legend. According to this, God asked his angels to find a place of peace and love in the world and if they found it, they could stay there as a gift. The angels travelled everywhere in the world but they only came across war, fights and hate among men. Tired and saddened by what they saw, they decided to go back. Right then, they spotted a green beautiful island in the middle of a striking crystal and beautiful blue sea. Men were poor and living a simple life but they looked happy and in peace. The angels reported this to God and as promised they were allowed to stay there to live.

The Devil discovered them pretty soon though and he could not resist from interfering and try to sparkle envy and terror again. The fight between Good and Evil started but at the end of a long battle the angels won and the sword of the Angel Gabriel raised to the sky. The Devil fell from his horse and full of rage took his saddle and crashed it to the see. When this reached the ground it turned into a huge promontory …which is called the Saddle of the Devil, “la Sella del Diavolo and that you can not really miss when you visit the Poetto today…

More stories will come soon! Or maybe you got one to tell us?

Ciao
Manuela

Blog-Sardinia

Last Saturday I saw this festival in Monastir, a tiny village 17 km from Cagliari and it was pretty impressive.

There are many other  St. Anthony festivals though and  you could see them if you visited Sardinia on a winter break or if you extended a New Year holiday in Cagliari, Alghero or somewhere else on the the island.

The celebrations take place in more than sixty villages, with some kind of variation from village to village, and not longer before the carnival season starts.

Normally on the days prior to the celebration the villagers take some wood and straws to a square where the big fire will be lighted. Often, there is a permanent circle of big stones near the church devoted to St Anthony which encloses the area where the fire will go.

On the evening a mass is celebrated to honour St. Anthony, who is supposed to have stolen the fire to the devil to save men from the freezing cold. Following the mass, the priest blesses the wood and the people. It is dark and chilli by the time the fire is started and everybody gets kind of bewitched by the flames and the red charming sparkles that fly to the dark sky and mix with the stars.

People warm up, then some of the local specialities such as red wine and sweets or even meat and broad beens are given to everybody at stalls. Finally the music starts, normally traditional music, and  fireworks take place.

This ancient Sardinian festival is believed to root in old pagan rites meant to wish a good agricultural season to the villagers. Still today the fire leftovers are often brought back home or the ashes spread on the cheeks as a wish of good luck.

Do not hesitate to take some for yourself  if you visit Sardinia!

Manuela

The most representative monumets of this age are the buildings and the architeture of villages which are called Nuraghi (Nuragi) or Nuragic villages.

Nuraghi are built with square stone bloks layed ona on top of the other to form a tower shaped like an truncated cone. Nuraghi can be formed by just one tower or even by up to five towers connected by walls. Inside many rooms at different levels are connected by stairs on the walls.

This is Wikipedia’s article:

The Nuraghe /nu’rage/ is the main archaeological megalithic monument of Sardinia. It is typically a truncated cone tower, in the shape of a beehive, built with huge square blocks of stone, and usually located in a panoramic position. The monument has no foundations, and stands only due to the weight of stones, which may weigh as much as several tons. Some Nuraghes are more than 20 metres in height. Today, there are more than 8,000 Nuraghes in Sardinia, though it has been estimated that once the number was more than 30,000. The nuraghes are concentrated most in the north-west and south-central parts of the island. Another kind of Nuraghe has a corridor or a system of corridors. Some authors are reluctant to place these in the same category as tholos Nuraghe, as there are too many relevant differences, and prefer talking about “Nuragic village”. Nuraghes appeared on the island in an undetermined epoch (not earlier than 6th millennium BC). Some elements have been dated 3500 BC, but it is supposed that most of them were built from the middle of the Bronze Age (18th-15th centuries BC) to the Late Bronze Age, though many were in continuous use until Rome entered Sardinia (2nd century BC). The uncertain date of the Nuraghes is a constant feature of Sardinian chronologies. Even though, according to Massimo Pallottino, a scholar of Sardinian prehistory and Etruscologist, the Nuragic civilization produced the most advanced and monumental architecture of the period in the western Mediterranean, including the region of Magna Graecia, of the existing 8000 only a few have as yet been scientifically excavated. Interest in Sardinian archaeology has been minimal, except for the black market trade in bronze statues. The use or meaning of the nuraghe has not been clearly identified: whether a religious temple, or a dwelling, a military stronghold, the house of the chief of the village, the place for the meeting of the wise men or the governors. It could have been as well a combination of all or some of these items. Some of the nuraghi are, however, in strategic locations from which important passages could be easily controlled. 

Undoubtedly nuraghes had a meaningful symbolic content, at least recalling wealth or power, or maybe the establishment of a village (eventually in the dignity of a State-village). Recent theories are oriented to consider that Sardinian villages might have been federated (very likely they were self-governed) and that the building of these monuments could depend on a prior planned distribution of the territory. Nuragic dwellers had developed particular skills in metallurgy, trading for bronze in many areas of the Mediterranean and being consequently a well known people.