“Mandas criminale”: crimes, thefts and robberies in the latest book by Umberto Oppus

Tomorrow, Friday 18 October, at 6:30 pm in the municipal library of the former convent of San Francesco in via Canonico Dessì, there will be a presentation of the book “Mandas criminale” written by Umberto Oppus, a journalist, scholar of the history of Sardinia and mayor of Mandas. After greetings from the deputy mayor Umberto Deidda, the author, the publisher Paride Puddu and the author of the preface Maria Grazia Genoese, Deputy Attorney General of the Republic of Cagliari, will speak. The evening is organized by the Pro loco of Mandas and the publishing house Sandhi of Ortacesus.

“Mandas criminale” is a long journey, through six centuries of local history, in the judicial, prison and criminal history of the town that, first in Sardinia, received the ducal title from the Crown of Spain . A journey through crimes, thefts and many other crimes committed in the town or in nearby villages, marked by the rhythms of official justice: warning letters and edicts, excommunications, judicial acts and reports of royal light cavalry, militiamen, musketeers up to the control of the territory by the carabinieri. «From the first Catalan-Aragonese period, passing through the Spanish one, Mandas also sees marked, in the various institutional passages, the moments of crime and justice that will be addressed with various provisions of the Kingdom of Sardinia governed by the Savoy and in the subsequent passages to the Kingdom of Italy and the Republic», says Oppus.

All this in an interesting intertwining of the great Sardinian history and local events that, in the case of Mandas, accompany viceroys and ministers of justice , inquisitors and bishops, arriving, in some cases, even to sign acts of excommunication in order to trace the perpetrators of a priest's crime. "There is no lack - continues the author - of complex investigations by the delegates to the management of justice that, in its application, will also see prisoners tortured, condemned to flogging or sent to row in the royal galleys. Up to the extreme punishment: sending to the gallows".