INSPIRATION

Today I travel almost all uphill, a slow climb for 10 kilometers amidst the hills at the foot of Mount Grighine. I arrive in Mogorella and the mayor Lorenzo welcomes me at the Town Hall. After leaving bike and luggage at his home where I will be a guest, we set off for a walk in this small village.

I immediately notice order and cleanliness, and many old houses all in stone. Here there is no sign of mud bricks (‘ladiri’), we have left the plain and we are in the higher rocky hills. I am struck by the many ancient portals, some well restored, others with very old original wood and fine carvings. We arrive at the Casa Sanna, a beautiful manor house renovated and acquired by the municipality that should act as a welcome and refreshment center.

The village extends over small hills, therefore a bit of ups and downs. We reach the top of the square of the San Lorenzo church, which facade is made up of pink trachyte. Lorenzo points out to me some stone with particular engravings and symbols. Next to the church there is the tall modern bell tower, much less beautiful than the facade!

Before lunch we can get into the car up to the remains of three nuraghi, the nuraghe called ‘de is pastoris’, now disappeared under a water deposit, the Friarosu protonuraghe, beside an old Roman road of which some evidence remains, and the Luas nuraghe, of which little remains, which overlooks the entire valley below.

After a light lunch of meat broth and boiled vegetables (yes!) I rest and work all afternoon. In the evening we take the car to go up to Monte Grighine, where we arrive just below the wind turbines, of which I enjoy the disturbing noise. This whole area was reforested with pines and eucalyptus trees after the terrible fire of 1983. Lorenzo tells me to remember him as a child, the sky covered with smoke, ash and lapilli that rained on the village. We walk along part of these young woods to arrive at the entrance of what was a mine, probably of lead.

Back to the village, I take some time to take photographs of a series of urban decorations, the murals of Pina Monne, and a very interesting initiative by some young girls of the civil service who have decorated the village with colored wooden boxes containing colored jars of flowers. We end the evening with an aperitif at the kiosk in the equipped area of ​​Piazza Trieste where there is a playground for children and an amphitheater for shows, and I can go to bed very early, exhausted by a cold that is taking over (how is it possible with this heat!?!)

 

SOUND FRAGMENTS

 

SARDINIAN SHORT STORIES

The last three days I crossed the three municipalities owners of wind farms on Monte Grighine, Siamanna, Villaurbana and Mogorella. Since on this trip I met so many others (also suffering the hard climbs that lead to them!), for example in Nulvi, Bortigiadas, Alà dei Sardi, Erula, Uta, and that I have heard opinions in favor and against their intrusive presence, I feel I have to have my say. The mere fact of embarking on such a long journey with only the help of the bicycle says a lot about my thinking, oriented towards eco-sustainability, and at the propensity towards lifestyles respectful of the environment. Whether you want it or not, wind energy is one of the current alternative forms of energy, together with solar energy, which has a decidedly lower environmental impact than the use of energy derived from hydrocarbons. And these two forms of energy in a land like Sardinia could meet the needs of the entire island. Unfortunately this does not happen. Because according to what I often hear, of the energy produced by wind turbines for example, nothing or only a small part goes to the local population. Same thing for the solar that must partly be put in the network of the public provider. What to say? Let’s move to methane? I guess we don’t want that. Then I leave the discussion and the answers to the experts.