56/377: Gonnosfanadiga
INSPIRATION
Today’s journey is simple and short and I do it on a beautiful day. I keep the granite mountains on the right and slowly I approach the valley where the Riu Piras flows, which cuts Gonnosfanadiga in two.
Today, another dear geologist friend awaits me, Mario, and with him too, like yesterday, a good part of the day is dedicated to visiting places of geological interest. First stop, however, coffee at the bar in the center, on the main road, the Rettifilo, which cuts the town in two, more or less parallel to the Riu Piras, for a few kilometers.
We walk to the central church of the Sacro Cuore and we arrive to the base of a long stairway, 292 steps, which climbs on a hill at the top of which a sanctuary-cave dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes was built. We get there by driving around the hill, and from up there you can enjoy a spectacular view of the village and the Campidano plain, as well as the total view of the Rettifilo that continues and merges into the staircase.
Behind Gonnos (so called by locals) stands the granite massif of Mount Linas, which extends to the territory of Villacidro. Once in the car, we drive to the mountain, skirting the Riu Piras for a while, going up its course, and admiring the grandeur of the granite blocks brought by the last floods! Shortly after we reach the Ente Foreste Perd’e Pibera park, an oasis of holm oaks and undergrowth, where once there was a mine of molybdenite, whose entrance is still visible even if blocked by a net. We enjoy a bit of peace and silence, broken only by the noise of water springs, before returning for lunch. On the way back I am curious about the various wells that are still in the middle of the village, some are now roundabouts!
In the afternoon we visit the Byzantine church of Santa Severa, just outside the town, inside which there is the statue of the martyr who has not been moved since unknown times. Legend has it that its displacement would provoke epochal rains and floods … someone must have moved it by doing cleaning this fall, considering how much it rained! … and then in front of the church there is a green field, uphill, in which a competition is held every year, shooting at ceramic plates … in the distance you can still see white shards on the grass.
Finally, before it gets dark we can also visit another small country church, that of San Giacomo, next to which there are the remains of a megadon nuragic temple, which, however, can not be approached because inside a fenced land.
SOUND FRAGMENTS
A simple melodic riff.
SARDINIAN SHORT STORIES
Samuele and Gabriele, respectively 7 and 3 years, had been waiting for me for days. They kept asking their parents, Mario and Daniela, when exactly I would arrive. Finally, now they can see my bike, my load, the bags. They are very intrigued but also intimidated by this bearded traveler. But it takes little to conquer them, a bit of homework together, and then games before dinner, and finally I take out my musical instrument, the ukulele, which coincidentally rhymes with Samuele and Gabriele !! All of a sudden the games stop, silence reigns, and above all the little Gabriele watches and listens dumbfounded. When I stop, he wants to try it right away, not only to touch it and strum some strings, but he wants to hold it with the strap, the little rocker !! Here he is, satisfied, ripping the rubber strings of the ukulele !! We will take it from his hands only after he has played it for a while and we took some very comic pictures where the instrument is twice his size! It’s time to go to sleep, and the ukulele is forgotten … maybe.
PS: exactly a week later, in my trip from San Gavino to Arbus, I pass by Gonnosfanadiga, I call Mario to stop and have a coffee, and they are all there, even the children, on vacation from school, amazed to see me again! Daniela and Mario reveal to me that just the day before Christmas Gabriele changed his requests to Santa and ABSOLUTELY wanted a guitar … and he was granted that! It’s a small, semi-toy guitar, but it works. I tune it, I play a couple of chords while Gabriele looks at me kidnapped and I give it back to him … “I could do it too” is his answer. Mission accomplished! Go Gabry Go!