★ Town · Oristano area and PlanargiaSantu LussurgiuA stone village inside the crater of an ancient volcano, among woods and springs. Knives and saddles are still made by hand here.
The storyThe village is built inside the crater of an ancient volcano of the Montiferru and has kept two rare traditions. Every Carnival pairs of riders send their horses galloping along the main street, squeezed between the houses, in the race called Sa Carrela 'e Nanti; and here the canto a cuncordu is handed down, the four-part polyphonic singing of the confraternities.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Sulcis and IglesienteCarloforteOn the island of San Pietro people speak Tabarchino, a Ligurian dialect brought by coral fishermen long ago. Colourful houses on the harbour and tuna in every recipe.
The storyThe town was founded in 1738 by Ligurian families from Pegli who for two centuries had lived on Tabarka, an island off Tunisia where they fished for coral; it took its name from King Charles Emmanuel III. In 1798 Tunisian corsairs kidnapped almost a thousand inhabitants, who were freed only after five years of slavery. That is why Tabarchino, a Ligurian dialect, is still spoken here.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Sulcis and IglesienteSant'AntiocoAn island linked by an isthmus, with catacombs, a Phoenician necropolis and a museum devoted to byssus, the sea silk spun from the noble pen shell.
The storyThe art of byssus, «sea silk», has survived here: a golden yarn made from the filaments with which Pinna nobilis, a large Mediterranean shell, anchors itself to the seabed. It was already a precious fabric in antiquity. Today Pinna nobilis is a protected species, decimated by a die-off that began in 2016, and collecting it is forbidden: the knowledge survives in a few workshops on the island.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Barbagia and SupramonteGavoiGranite houses, Lake Gusana and fiore sardo, the shepherds' traditional pecorino. A quiet, welcoming mountain village.
The storyGavoi is a granite village in the Barbagia di Ollolai where fiore sardo is made, the shepherds' pecorino aged in stone cellars. Since 2004 it has hosted «L'isola delle storie» every summer, a literary festival that brings writers from all over the world to the village's squares and courtyards. Below the village lies Lake Gusana, created by a dam and surrounded by woods.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Gulf of Orosei and OgliastraUlassaiA village beneath limestone «tacchi», with the Su Marmuri cave and the works of Maria Lai, who tied the whole village together with a sky-blue ribbon. Art and mountains together.
The storyOn 8 September 1981 the artist Maria Lai, born here, tied the whole village to the mountain with kilometres of blue ribbon passed from house to house: the work is called «Legarsi alla montagna» (Binding to the Mountain) and draws on a local legend about a girl saved by a sky-blue ribbon during a landslide. Today her works are scattered through the streets and in the Stazione dell'Arte museum.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Cagliari and the southGesturiA basalt plateau that is home to the Giara horses, small wild horses. In spring the temporary ponds, the «paulis», fill with flowers.
The storyThe Giara is a basalt plateau about six hundred metres high, flat as a table and a dozen kilometres long, where the Giara horses roam free: small wild horses whose arrival on the island no one can explain for certain. In winter and spring the rain fills the «paulis», shallow ponds where the horses drink among flowering water crowfoot.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Oristano area and PlanargiaPaulilatinoA perfect stone staircase descends to the water inside a nuragic well. On the right days the moonlight reaches all the way to the bottom.
The storyThe well is a nuragic water temple, built about three thousand years ago with basalt blocks cut with a precision that looks modern. At the equinoxes the sun travels down the staircase and lights up the water; according to archaeoastronomy studies, roughly every 18 and a half years the full moon lines up with the opening of the dome and is reflected at the bottom. Next to it is a little country church with small houses for the pilgrims of the novenas.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Barbagia and SupramonteDorgaliA nuragic village hidden inside a collapsed sinkhole at the top of a mountain in the Supramonte. You can only get there on foot, which is part of its appeal.
The storyThe village is hidden inside a dolina, a large collapsed karst hollow at the top of Monte Tiscali, in the Supramonte of Oliena and Dorgali. The stone huts were inhabited from the nuragic age to Roman times and beyond: a refuge invisible from outside, perhaps used by the peoples of the interior to escape the control of conquerors.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · North-west and AlgheroSassariA stepped altar more than five thousand years old, unique in the Mediterranean: it recalls the ziggurats of Mesopotamia. It stands in the countryside between Sassari and Porto Torres.
The storyIt is a terraced altar built more than five thousand years ago by Late Neolithic communities, rebuilt and enlarged several times: nothing like it exists in western Europe, and its shape recalls the Mesopotamian ziggurats. It was identified and excavated by the archaeologist Ercole Contu from the post-war years; in front of the ramp there is still a menhir and a large pierced stone slab.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · North-west and AlgheroAlgheroDozens of «domus de janas», the fairies' houses: tombs carved into the rock, with carvings in the shape of bull's horns. One of the largest pre-nuragic necropolises.
The storyThe necropolis was discovered in 1903 while digging to plant the vineyards of the Sella & Mosca estate, and was excavated soon after by the archaeologist Antonio Taramelli. The tombs, carved into the rock more than five thousand years ago, are the «domus de janas», the fairies' houses of Sardinian tradition: some still have bull's horns carved on their walls, a symbol of strength and fertility.
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