INSPIRATION

Today’s distance it’s a kilometer and a half downhill. I didn’t even notice it! I arrive at the Town Hall where the Mayor Andrea receives me. We go for a coffee and meet some councillors and Giampietro, former Mayor, with whom I was already in contact through Luigia from Gonnesa. The connection network of my project thickens!

Andrea takes me to visit some spots in the village. First, the church of San Cristoforo, once rural but now incorporated into the village. From here you can enjoy an excellent view of the plain towards Tortolì, the one I have seen for days, but from different angles. Immediately after, we visit the church of San Giovanni Battista. Inside there is a beautiful wooden statue of a Madonna, it is said to have been found in a wooden box, also preserved here, on the beach of Cea and brought here on an ox cart.

We then take a walk in the historic center, full of stone houses and very narrow alleys. We pass next to Sa Domu ‘e Is Ducus, recently acquired and restructured by the municipality for various types of events. We pass what was the old mill, now abandoned. Ilbono is the City of Oil, I discover that there are 28 Municipalities in Sardinia with this title, and I have already visited several, Oliena, Orgosolo, Osini, Riola Sardo, Seneghe, Giba, Gonnosfanadiga, Masainas, Santadi, Villacidro and Villamassargia , and then all the others I haven’t visited yet. At the end of the tour Andrea takes me to Piazza Bau Carrus, on the outskirts of the village, with a playground for children, and under a stone sculpture i give a small concert on the ukulele that is broadcast live on Facebook by Andrea.

For lunch Andrea leaves me, and I meet Maria Erminia, informed of my arrival by Rosy who hosted me for lunch at Domusnovas. Maria Erminia will host me and she will guide me for the rest of the day. We have lunch with her friends Agnese, councilor, and Davide, and then Maria Erminia and I head out of town to visit the archaeological park of Scerì. We drive through a relief and arrive at the site, immersed in granite. In the lower part there are some beautiful domus de janas, a little further on, the nuraghe, on which we climb, enjoying a wonderful view. A truly magical place, with immense granites that act as walls incorporated into the nuraghe. Around it there are remains of a nuragic village, which was used in later periods by also the Punic and Romans.

Not far from here there is a very particular stone that the traffic warden this morning suggested we go and see, and he indicated on Google Maps the exact location, in a private land. So we go back to the car in search of this place. On the road Maria Erminia meets a gentleman she knows, and asks him if he knows where this stone is. “Certainly, follow me, I will show you!” We follow his car for a while and we arrive. We enter the private land and we do not take long to find a granite boulder that is part of the dry walls of this land, on which there are concentric circles, exactly like those of Perda Pintada di Mamoiada. I immediately send a photo to my friend Andrea, who organised my day in Mamoiada, who incredulously asks me for details on the position … sharing information on this trip!

In the evening Maria Erminia has a parents meeting at school, I take this opportunity to work, and on her return she tells me about her job as a teacher with a contagious passion. She tells me about her students with disabilities, and how much effort it takes to follow them well. We have dinner and conclude the evening to tell each other stories of life, of ended loves, of plans for the future. One of mine is to read a book that Maria Erminia hands me, “Controvento – Stories and journeys that change one’s life” by Federico Paci, but unfortunately I won’t even have time to look at it before collapsing asleep.

SOUND FRAGMENTS

SHORT SARDINIAN STORIES

Today at lunchtime, they tell me about this guy, Livio from Ilbono, who has visited all the Municipalities in Sardinia. I am really curious about it, even though by now I have learned to doubt many things that tell me about this trip (‘our Municipality is the wider’, ‘our nuraghe is unique’, ‘we have the oldest church’, etc. …) However, I ask for this man’s phone number and I plan to call him.

PS several days have passed since my visit to Ilbono, and finally I have the time to call Livio. It is really true … he visited all the towns of Sardinia (contradicting the many ones who told me ‘you will be the only one who will have seen all the towns in Sardinia!’) Livio tells me about the activities he carries out in the social gathering center, and about the events of the Ilbonese Summer Festival, especially sports and games. The event produces t-shirts, which initially had the logo only on the back.

To promote the event in other villages, in 2007 Livio began to photograph some members of the group who wore these t-shirts, posing in front of some characteristic places of every place. As the travels and photos in the various towns increased, always with the photo subject giving the back to the camera, the idea of ​​completing all the municipalities of Sardinia was born, at a rate of even 20 per day! And finally in 2017 the 377 municipalities were completed!

Today, at the social gathering center, there are 8 bulletin boards, of those that were the 8 Sardinian provinces, with all the photos in the different municipalities, with the ‘back’ pose that has become an icon for the project. Too bad I missed this fantastic “serial” project when I was in Ilbono … in the meantime I know for sure that someone has already seen the 377 municipalities of Sardinia, and of each place he has left a “creative” trace!