INSPIRATION

I start from Bidonì under the pouring rain. I descend cautiously towards the bridge that connects the two shores of the Lake Omodeo. Next to the new bridge where road traffic passes, there is a hundred year old bridge, renovated.

I decide to stretch the route in spite of the rain and cross the old bridge. The lake view is beautiful. I pass under the new bridge and go back to Tadasuni, where I arrive completely wet. Mauro and Vincenzo, Mayor and Vice Mayor, who have been following my project for some time, welcome me warmly at the Town Hall.

I receive very welcome gifts, including a nice book on the famous museum of musical instruments of the Sardinian tradition present here. Unfortunately, along with the gifts, I also receive the sad news that the museum closed several years ago, and they tell me it will hardly reopen, at least in its original form.

Going around the village you can already see that on this side of the lake the houses are mainly built with dark basaltic stone. The village is basically built around the provincial road. About 150 inhabitants.

With two churches in the center, San Nicola with a beautiful portal decorated with bronze sculptures, and the small one of Santa Croce among narrow streets that open just in front of the church in a sort of little square.

In the afternoon we descend to the lake. On this bank, just at the exit of the bridge there are two large buildings, still waiting to be used.

The first was a hotel built in the 1920s, to which renovations were carried out to prevent collapse. We enter and the floors amaze me, still original, of beautiful tiles, some walls and ceilings still with the original decorations. The interior is not as good as the outside, but we can go up to the second floor, which offers an incredible view of the lake.

The second building is a modern hotel, not finished yet, complete with a swimming pool and here too amazing views of the lake. It seems however that no one is found who wants to manage it, and it is feared that it will remain an unfinished work.

We end the day by climbing to the country church of San Michele, with a must-see view of the lake, and to the Casa Pinna, a beautiful renovated historic house used as an event center. I find out that a festival of digital cultures and contemporary arts called Tad’A Festival is held here for a few years. Keep an eye on!

 

SOUND FRAGMENTS

Funeral march improvised for the death of a museum. Resurrection awaited.

 

SARDINIAN SHORT STORIES

Mauro, 38, has a lot to do as Mayor of a village of 150 inhabitants. And so has the Vice Mayor Vincenzo. I realized it spending a day alongside them. The morning of my arrival they hold a Committee meeting and they deliberate a contribution towards my project. We have lunch at home. Mauro and Vincenzo cook for me.

After lunch we go down to the lakeside hotels. The water flows copiously from the surrounding hills and pours on the road, creating torrents that clog the manholes. Some hotel facilities have been damaged and the mayor calls the company that manages the site to take care of it.

We go back to the village. A heavy truck drives fast on the provincial road that passes between the houses of the village. The vibrations bring down the cornice of a balcony right in front of our eyes, a few meters from us, with a loud roar that makes us jump.

Vincenzo and I immediately take care to free the road from the debris, and we run to get signs to prevent cars passing close to the rubble or that pedestrians pass under the balcony, now unsafe. Mauro goes to take the barriers with the van of the Council. Firefighters promptly arrive from Abbasanta and seal off the whole area, securing the balcony.

We go to the church on the mountain. Here too the water goes down in rivers on the road. Some leaves clog a passage. Mauro gets out of the car and with a stick he frees the way to the water. From above we see some flooded fields.

We return to the village and at this point Mauro leaves me to attend a Mass of the Carabinieri, the Virgo Fidelis, held in Ghilarza. Despite everything, at the end of the evening Mauro has the time (and the desire) to reach me for an aperitif.

We discuss many things including the possibility that one day the museum of musical instruments will reopen … this is a priority as it is to repair a collapsed balcony. Well done Mauro!