Cagliari, Stampace district: why its inhabitants are called Cucurus cotus
The origin of the name of the district is Pisana. The Aragonese historian who speaks of its residents defines them as "the most cursed people in the world"It is written “stampaxinu cùcuru cotu” and is said by doubling the consonants: “stampaxinu cuccuru cottu”. A way of saying that was used to indicate the inhabitants of one of the historic districts of Cagliari, the Stampace district: an area already inhabited in Roman times.
The name "Stampace" derives from the Pisan domination (1200), as also emerges from the fact that in Pisa there is a bastion that takes the same name.
The printers were known to be very stubborn people. In fact, "stampaxinu cùcuru cotu", from Sardinian into Italian, means "hot-headed Stampacino". Their stubbornness, their hot head, was a quality the Aragonese had known very well. In fact around 1300 the latter fought in Sardinia and more precisely in Cagliari, meeting the inhabitants of Stampace on their way.
An Aragonese historian who was part of the expedition, Ramon Muntaner, describes the printers as the most cursed people in the world, characterized by pride, arrogance and lust.
Furthermore, it seems that the printer was a handsome man. As evidence we can cite a saying from Cagliari that once read: " A mustatzu stampaxinu fèmina o buca biddanoesa". From Sardinian into Italian: “al baffo stampacino (to indicate men from stampace) woman or bocca villanovese (to indicate women from another historic district of Cagliari, the Villanova district).
The Stampacino man and the Villanovese woman were, according to popular wisdom, the perfect recipe for the perfect marriage, as the Villanovese women were women of great beauty, grace and femininity.
(Unioneonline)
