Chia is located along the breath-taking road of the south-west coast of Sardinia, the houses appear to grow out of the sea making it a perfect place to pass the afternoon staring out at the bay while sipping a nice glass of wine.

 

 

At a walking distance from the village, with rolling dunes, white sand and framed on the right side by the Spanish watchtower, “Torre di Chia” is one of the best beaches on the southern coast, a perfect sandy arc with a pretty lagoon behind.

 

 

Around the tower, built by the Spanish crown against the incursion of the pirates interested on the river water, have been found the remains of the ancient village of Chia, the fourth-century BC Phoenician and Carthaginian town of Bythia, ( in the locality of Isula Manna) and then Roman centre, mentioned in Ptolemy’s Geography, but never attaining the same importance as Nora or Tharros.

Among the ruins brought to light following a storm in the 30s including some tombs and parts of a temple probably dedicated to the Egyptian deity Bes, there are the remains of a Punic Tophet and the ancient road that leads to the important city of Nora.

 

A walk up to the tower affords a grand view south overlooking the coastline also known as Baia di Chia dotted with pretty coves and an array of beautiful beaches framed by dense vegetation and brightened by an emerald -green sea.
It is a spectacular place to pass a few hours.

Beaches

Chia can be proud of a variety of beaches to suit every taste, from long stretches of glaring white sand with their shallow waters to pretty rocky coves, overall is an impressive sight.

On the west of Torre di Chia:

Sa Colonia

This wonderful white-collared stretch of land lay south of Chia, taking the form of a boundless beach surrounded by Asphodelus and sprinklings of lavender and Cistus grow on the open slopes, while heather crowds underneath the pine.

Cala del Morto 

A tiny, rather special rocky cove sits amidst juniper low trees showing a pretty sandy bay will draw you down to the magnetic turquoise sea for a refreshing dip.
Located a walking distance westward from Sa Colonia beach through a hilly path; although it is quite crowded in the summer time this superb spot manages to keep its laid-back, unspoiled charms throughout the year.

 

Porto di Campana Beach

You head down into an aquamarine-colored bay, set at the foot of dark green and ivory white sandy dunes which reach even 20 meters high and like magic a large and sweeping beach appear to your sight.

A superb view greets you the white sand glares in the sunlight and the clear blue sea reflects sky-blues shallow waters making this beautiful bay ideal for a picnic day in an amazing setting.

Arriving from the parking place just before the beach you can admire the immense natural pond ideal habitat for an array of species of birds from coots to little egrets to grey herons and especially flamingos coming from Africa that paddle here and breed their small ones

Campana beach can be proud of many facilities for visitors: it is wheelchair accessible, a car park, restaurants, and beach bars to suit every taste.

 

Capo Spartivento

From Cala Cipolla, the path towards the Faro (lighthouse) Capo Spartivento is brim-full of magnificent country scenery at one side and the magnificent view over the Chia Bay and of all the south coast on the other, achieving its best in spring when the meadows are saturated with wildflowers and the trees are freshly green.

The Lighthouse “Faro” Capo Spartivento” dominates the surrounding standing at the highest tip of the promontory that bears the same name. Built in the middle 19th century by the Italian Navy this amazing structure used to accommodate the family of the lighthouse steward till recently. Nowadays the Faro is a luxury residence nonetheless keeping its brilliant design and charming appearance.

Su Giudeu

A long sandy beach, which is excellent for children, shortly, a stunning bay overlooking the clear turquoise waters where high sandy dunes covered with junipers, mirtus, and pines share the lower slopes.

It is an awesome sight that shines up at you also known as the S’ABBA DURCI beach (freshwater beach), by local knowledge especially on its eastern side (where some fresh water from the river Perdosu and the Stagno join the sea).

In this wild and wonderful stretch of southern coast families of flamingos have made it their home for part of the year wandering around in the nearby lagoon. (Stagno di Stangioni de su Sali where the needed fresh water is brought in by the River Perdosu)

The sea floors of su Giudeu are rich in fauna and natural beauty with quite a few reefs just above the surface a perfect and fun location for divers.

Not far from the shore the small island just in front of su Giudeu beach is an impressive sight, between easy reach thanks to the shallow waters typical of the south a tiny, rather special rocky islet of Su Giudeu sits untouched with its ridges toppling off into the sea.

 

Cala Cipolla  

An irresistible untouched sandy beach guarded by a rocky promontory, only accessible on foot leaving from the parking hundred meters away. Here the rich color contrast of the white beach, blue sea, pine and juniper forest and rose –coloured rock shore-line make this secret spot a rare sight.

On the right side of this sandy bay lay the suggestive lighthouse of Capo Spartivento reachable on foot through a country pebble pathway from which you will enjoy a tremendous view across the southern coastline.

It is a perfect location for families thanks to its emerald blue and shallow waters that stay low as far as 10 mt from the shoreline and obviously for divers who like to explore its wonderful seabed.

 

On the east of Torre di Chia:

Su Portu (Porticciolo) and Isula Manna Su Cordolinu 
Su Portu Bay on the opposite promontory of Sa Colonia beach just in front of the Campeggio Torre Chia, wild and wonderful with turquoise shallow waters, offers a stunning view over the Chia Spanish Tower and the Su Cordolinu (wild mushroom) little inlet beautifully connected to the bay by an isthmus of sand and so can be visited on foot.

There is much to discover here: in particular the location of the Tophet (necropolis) of the Phoenician city of Bithia (8th century BC).

 

Cala de Sa Musica
Cala de Sa Musica ( The music bay) can only be reached via the sea or through a pebbly and difficult path which leave Porticciolo beach and wind down through the wild-pear low tree and juniper bushes, amidst seaside slopes, it appears in all its beauty a tiny rather special bay overlooking the coast towards Africa.

 

Natural Ponds

Stagno di Chia (Chia Pond)
Also known in Sardinian language as “Stagno di Sa Tanca e Sa Tuerra” lay undisturbed just behind the eastern side of La Colonia beach where it changes its name in Baia di Chia or Monte Cogoni beach.

This attractive lagoon dries in full summer but all year round its fresh water are supplied by the wild natural river “Rio Baccu Mannu” that run from the Mount “Punta su Furru to the seashore next to the Cogoni Promontory at the location called Sa Foxi de Cogoni.
It is an explosion of natural beauties and rare birds that come here from Africa or from nearby regions to paddle in this beautiful water so in a normal spring or early summer afternoon you can admire the pink flamingos, herons, and even coots.

 

Stagno di Stangioni de su Sali 
This pretty lagoon consists of two ponds one very small and the main one and there are situated just behind the Su Giudeu beach, separated from it by precious natural white sand dunes. The fresh waters are brought in by the Rio Perdosu river

This natural oasis is the usual habitat for many animal species and like the other Chia ponds home to rare bird species including a number of them which nest in the area: herons, coots, and pink flamingos.

CONTACT US
If you have any particular queries and questions about planning your stay in Sardinia,
please send  us an email :
sakanatravel@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2008-2017 SAKANA TRAVEL All rights reserved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inland Sardinia 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2008-2017 SAKANA TRAVEL All rights reserved

CONTACT US
If you have any particular queries and questions about planning your stay in Sardinia,
please send  us an email :
sakanatravel@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article by Barry Jones first appeared in County Times magazine on Saturday 14th October 2017.

One of Mid Wales’s greatest men who has been forgotten in his own country but remains a hero in Italy was featured in an S4C (Channel Four Wales-in welsh Welsh Sianel Pedwar Cymru) programme .

 

 

Benjamin Piercy, of Trefeglwys near Caersws, who was responsible for some world famous railway designs in Wales and Sardinia, was included in the Welsh travel and history series Dylan at Daith which will be shown again tonight at 11:30 pm.

Piercy is remembered in Italy, where he is still praised for transforming life in Sardinia by designing and building the island’s railway system almost 150 years ago.

In the programme he is praised by the President of Sardinia, Francesco Pigliaru, who is amongst the Sardinians appearing in the programme “O Drefeglwys I Sardinia”. link to video

It follows the great engineer’s journey, from his pioneering work on early Welsh railroads to see how his rail network is still a vital part of Sardinia’s transport system.

“The development of the railroads in those days was similar to the development of the internet today, and Benjamin Piercy was a major player, “said the series presenter, the journalist Dylan Iorwerth.

“The strange fact is that very few people in Wales have ever heard of him, but people in Sardinia – including the President – keep his name alive”.

On his own journey, Dylan visits houses where Benjamin Piercy lived and sees some of his engineering masterpieces. As well as railways, he helped modernise farming in Sardinia and became a close friend to Italy’s charismatic military leader, Giuseppe Garibaldi.

“Benjamin Piercy was responsible for some world famous railway designs in Wales and Sardinia, but he was far more than just a designer”, says Dylan Iorwerth.

“He had a great ability to get projects off the ground and he was very determined, overcoming a financial crash and even a war of independence”.

“Benjamin Piercy was responsible for transforming Sardinia and his influence can still be seen there- it was exciting to find places where he’d lived and pieces of his work”.

After his time in Sardinia. Benjamin Piercy came back to wales and bought the Marchwiel estate near Wrexham where few know of his achievements.

 

 

In contrast, Dylan and the television crew from the production company Unigryw, were invited to a ceremony on an estate in Sardinia – where a country  mansion is now a museum to remember the Welshman.

Further chances to see the programme will be at 11:30pm on October 14 in an audio signed version, and at 10:45 pm on October 25. It is also available online on demand for some 30 days.

or here

Article by Barry Jones first appeared in County Times magazine on Saturday 14th October 2017. barry.jones@nwn.co.uk

 

 

article by Austa Somvichian-Clausen first appeared 6th October 2017 on National Geographic Magazine.

 

 

 

An ancient ceremony in the heart of a wild country celebrates the rebirth of spring.

A mysterious, ancient tradition takes place each year in Mamoiada, a small village tucked into the middle of wild and mountainous Sardinia.

On the day of Saint Anthony, the saint protector of animals and fire, the men of the village transform to become Mamuthones and Issohadores. Complementing one another like yin is to yang, mamuthones echo the darkness, while issohadores rope in the light.
Bonfires roar across not only the village, but all of Sardinia in observance of the holiday. One of the most popular festival days in the country, the occasion is meant to banish the cold chill of winter in exchange for the sweeter invitation of spring. It is on that day that the villagers of Mamoiada share their uniquely haunting procession of song, dance, and solemnity.
The stars of the show, the Mamuthones, represent the inhabitants of the kingdom of the dead, as well as the shepherd’s strong connection between man and his beasts. They don anthropomorphic, grotesque masks created by local artisans—accentuated by jutting features and slick black paint. Heavy copper cowbells sewn onto thick straps of leather hang tightly from their backs like tortoise shells, threatening to drag their bodies to the ground. Thin hoods of fabric drape over their heads, and darkly colored sheep pelts hide their shoulders, backs, and torsos.
In contrast, Issohadores parade around in red tunics and black bandoliers, a bell-adorned sash hanging across their bodies.
The procession begins in front of the largest church in the village. Led by an Issohadore, twelve Mamuthones begin their solemn, rhythmic pace forward. Lurching under the weight of up to 60 pounds of copper bells, they do not pay the public any attention.

 

 

Lively issohadores twirl thin reed ropes, catching young women in the crowd. They continue like this from early afternoon until late evening, until each of the bonfires in the village have been reached.
Dating back over two thousand years, the true origin of the pre-Christian tradition is heavily disputed by scholars. Some argue that it dates back to the indigenous Nuragic civilization and was originally intended as a gesture of reverence for animals, and to serve as protection from evil spirits.

Filmmaker Andrea Pecora (short film) feels a deep connection to these traditions thanks to Sardinian ancestry on his mother’s side. He hopes to share Sardinian culture with the world and says experiencing the tradition of the mamuthones was especially meaningful.
“The tension was clearly visible in the men’s eyes, and the creeping fire and holy atmosphere was something magical,” says Pecora. “I hope I’ve captured all of this into my work.”

Article by Eliot Stein first appeared on BBC Travel Magazine 6th September 2017

Byssus, or sea silk, is one of the most coveted materials in the world – but after more than 1,000 years in the same matrilineal family tree, this ancient thread may soon unravel.

 

 

Each spring, under the cover of darkness and guarded by members of the Italian Coast Guard, 62-year-old Chiara Vigo slips on a white tunic, recites a prayer and plunges headfirst into the crystalline sea off the tiny Sardinian island of Sant’Antioco.

Using the moonlight to guide her, Vigo descends up to 15m below the surface to reach a series of secluded underwater coves and grassy lagoons that the women in her family have kept secret for the past 24 generations. She then uses a tiny scalpel to carefully trim the razor-thin fibres growing from the tips of a highly endangered Mediterranean clam known as the noble pen shell, or pinna nobilis.

 

 

It takes about 100 dives to harvest 30g of usable strands, which form when the mollusc’s secreted saliva comes in contact with salt water and solidifies into keratin. Only then is Vigo ready to begin cleaning, spinning and weaving the delicate threads. Known as byssus, or sea silk, it’s one of the rarest and most coveted materials in the world.

Today, Vigo is believed to be the last person on Earth who still knows how to harvest, dye and embroider sea silk into elaborate patterns that glisten like gold in the sunlight.

 

 

Women in Mesopotamia used the exceptionally light fabric to embroider clothes for their kings some 5,000 years ago. It was harvested to make robes for King Solomon, bracelets for Nefertiti, and holy vestments for priests, popes and pharaohs. It’s referenced on the Rosetta Stone, mentioned 45 times in the Old Testament and thought to be the material that God commanded Moses to drape on the altar in the Tabernacle.

 

 

No-one is precisely sure how or why the women in Vigo’s family started weaving byssus, but for more than 1,000 years, the intricate techniques, patterns and dying formulas of sea silk have been passed down through this astonishing thread of women – each of whom has guarded the secrets tightly before teaching them to their daughters, nieces or granddaughters

After an invitation to visit Vigo’s one-room studio, I suddenly found myself face-to-face with the last surviving sea silk seamstress, watching her magically spin solidified clam spit into gold.

 

 

I slowly approached the small wooden table where Vigo worked, walking past a 200-year-old loom, glass jars filled with murky indigo and amber potions and a certificate confirming her highest order of knighthood from the Italian Republic cast aside on the floor.

If you want to enter my world, I’ll show it to you,” she smiled. “But you’d have to stay here for a lifetime to understand it.”

Vigo learned the ancient craft from her maternal grandmother, who taught traditional wool weaving techniques on manual looms to the women of Sant’Antioco for 60 years. She remembers her grandmother paddling her into the ocean in a rowboat to teach her to dive when she was three years old. By age 12, she sat atop a pillow, weaving at the loom.

 

 

“My grandmother wove in me a tapestry that was impossible to unwind” Vigo said. “Since then, I’ve dedicated my life to the sea, just as those who have come before me.”

Vigo is known as su maistu (‘the master’, in Sardo). There can only be one maistu at a time, and in order to become one, you must devote your life to learning the techniques from the existing master. Like the 23 women before her, Vigo has never made a penny from her work. She is bound by a sacred ‘Sea Oath’ that maintains that byssus should never be bought or sold.

In fact, despite weaving works for display in the Louvre, the British Museum and the Vatican, Vigo doesn’t have a single piece of byssus in her home. She lives in a modest apartment with her husband, and they live off his pension as a coal miner and donations from visitors who stop by Vigo’s studio.

 

 

Instead, Vigo explained that the only way to receive byssus is as a gift. She’s created pieces for Pope Benedict XVI and the Queen of Denmark, but more often than not she embroiders designs for newlywed couples, children celebrating a christening and women who come to her in hopes of becoming pregnant.

Byssus doesn’t belong to me, but to everyone,” Vigo asserted. “Selling it would be like trying to profit from the sun or the tides.”

But that hasn’t stopped people from trying. According to Małgorzata Biniecka, author of The Masters of Byssus, Silk and Linen, until the 1930s the only other place besides Sant’Antioco where the tradition of sea silk harvesting and embroidering continued was the city of Taranto, Italy.

“A woman there forsake the Sea Oath and tried to establish a commercial byssus industry,” Biniecka said. “A year later, it went bankrupt and she mysteriously died.”

More recently, a Japanese businessman approached Vigo with an offer to purchase her most famous piece, ‘The Lion of Women’, for €2.5 million. It took Vigo four years to stitch the glimmering 45x45cm design with her fingernails, and she dedicated it to women everywhere.

I told him, ‘Absolutely not’,” she declared. “The women of the world are not for sale.”

Neither is the painstaking process behind her pieces, which she slowly revealed during my four-day visit.

After harvesting raw byssus from the depths of the sea, she desalts the fibres by submerging them in fresh water for 25 days, changing the water every three hours. Once they dry, she cleans the threads with a carding brush to remove any remaining sediment.

Then comes the hardest part: separating each strand of pure sea silk from the tangle of raw byssus. Because sea silk is three times finer than a strand of human hair, Vigo peers through a lamp with a magnifying glass as she delicately plucks each thread of silk using a pair of tweezers.

“It may seem easy now,” she said. “But my fingers have been practicing this for 50 years.”

On several occasions after Vigo extracted a thick tuft of fibres, she ordered me to close my eyes and extend my hand. Each time I felt nothing. After about 10 seconds, I’d open my eyes to see Vigo rolling a weightless cloud of sea silk back and forth on my palm.

Next, she twists the silk manually around a small wooden spindle, usually singing in Sardo – the closest living form of Latin – during the process. When the fibres form a long thread, she grabs a jar of cloudy yellowish liquid from the shelf.

“Now, we’ll enter a magical realm,” she said, dropping the thin thread into a secret concoction of lemon, spices and 15 different types of algae. Within seconds, the thread becomes elastic and she excitedly ushered me outside to show how it shimmered in the sunlight. Vigo has an encyclopaedic knowledge of 124 natural dye variations made from fruits, flowers and seashells.

Finally, Vigo intertwines the spun silk into the linen warp using her fingernails. It takes 15 straight days of extracting and dying raw byssus to create enough threads to weave just a few centimetres. Some pieces, like a 50x60cm cloth of pure sea silk weighing just 2g, take six years to stitch. Others, like the larger tapestries draped atop her loom depicting Biblical passages and pagan deities, take even longer.

“There are 140 patterns in my family, eight of which will never be written and have been passed down orally from generation to generation,” she said.

But after more than 1,000 years in the same matrilineal family tree, this ancient thread may soon unravel.

According to tradition, the heir to the byssus secrets is Vigo’s youngest daughter, Maddalena. Like her own grandmother, Vigo began teaching her how to dive and embroider at an early age

The only thing she’s missing is the formulas for the dye potions,” Vigo told me.

But there’s a problem: “My mother and I are very different,” Maddalena said from her home in Dublin, Ireland, where she’s been living for the past two years. “People have always told me that I’d be a fool to allow this art to die, but I’m desperately torn. My life is mine.”

What’s more, after creating the world’s only museum dedicated to byssus in 2005, Vigo awoke one day last autumn to find that the government of Sant’Antioco had unexpectedly closed her free Museo del Bisso, citing that the building’s electrical system wasn’t up to code.

“The ‘electrical problem’ was me!” Vigo snapped. “The municipality tried to force me to charge entrance fees and write down my patterns and secrets. But I will defend this sacred oath with my fingernails as long as I breathe!”

The news drew national attention, spurring an online petition that garnered nearly 20,000 signatures – including that of the President of Sardinia – to no avail.

Recently, two young artists started a crowdfunding campaign to help Vigo rent the one-room studio where she now works. Ironically, it’s the same room where Vigo’s grandmother taught her how to spin sea silk 50 years ago. Unless they can raise €85,000 to purchase the rent-to-own property by November 2018, the town will evict her and the world will no longer be able to watch its last sea silk seamstress spin byssus into gold.

On my last evening with Vigo, she led me to a secluded cove where women in her family have prayed for as long as she can remember. As the sun melted into the sea, she stood at the edge of a tidal pool, closed her eyes and began a mystical, almost shamanic chant.

She then reached deep into a bag, pulled out a clump of 300-year-old byssus from a vial, and spun a long thread of sea silk.

“The secrets may die with me,” she said, tying the thread around my wrist. “But the silk of the sea will live on.”

Article by Eliot Stein first appeared on BBC Travel Magazine 6th September 2017

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170906-the-last-surviving-sea-silk-seamstress