Nora, a marvel of Sardinian archeology buried for lack of funds
There is still much to discover underground but the funds that arrive for the construction sites are barely enough to maintain what has already been unearthed in the excavation campaigns.
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Attention, together with hope, is concentrated on the part that houses the old buildings of the former Navy base. Indeed, to be precise, it is believed that the new treasures of Nora are under those abandoned and restricted buildings, for a very specific reason: "In the past, roads have been discovered that point in that direction", explains Giacomo Zago, head of the consortium Sardinia cultural system that manages the archaeological site on the sea in the territory of Pula, a few tens of kilometers from Cagliari.
The attention is there, the hope as well. Not so money: the excavations in the Phoenician-Punic-Roman city - built between the eighth and sixth centuries BC and abandoned in the medieval period, never totally buried - have always had to deal with the accounts: little money, then a few excavations to discover what else the archaeological jewel hides, of which the Roman theater is still used for summer cultural and entertainment reviews. The Covid-19 pandemic, if it was possible, has further worsened the situation: in Nora, practically, no investigation has been carried out underground for a year and a half.
Yet, from a tourist point of view, Nora works: the Di-Segno cooperatives of Cagliari and Irei of Villagrande Strisaili, united in the Sardinia cultural system consortium, this summer have sold an average of four hundred admission tickets per day: between two hundred and three hundred in those of "lean" and peaks of eight hundred in the hottest part, in every sense, of the season. A sign that Nora is still today not only a giant from a cultural point of view, but also a tourist attraction that works very well.
But we know: Italy is scattered with riches underground, fortunately and unfortunately: it is positive because archeology, based on our history, makes us a nation without competitors as regards the testimonies of the past, but the reverse of The medal is that there are not, there cannot be, sufficient funds to finance the gigantic amount of excavations needed to unearth national treasures and maintain those that already exist. So even Nora has to be satisfied with crumbs and short campaigns more of maintenance than excavation, such as those that end in this period, conducted by the Universities of Cagliari (Isthmos project), Milan (excavation of Milan Nora), Padua (Progetto Nora ) and the University of Genoa.
It is useless to search in the sea, archaeologists are convinced: "Everything that was found below the water level", says Zago, "was torn from the earth by storm surges, but the belief is that the city develops below of what already emerges ": in fact, in the direction of the abandoned barracks of the Navy. Down there, many archaeologists are convinced, the excavations could still give a lot, but to go and look underground it is necessary that from the opposite side, that is above the ground, someone gives the necessary money to continue the excavation campaigns. "The short construction sites opened this summer, especially for the care of what has already been done, are completed or running out", remembers the head of the Sardinia cultural system consortium.
It is really a pity, from all points of view, but - according to a Neapolitan saying - "the water is scarce and the duck does not float". Of course, the Nora construction site - or rather, the Archaeological Mission, as it is called - nevertheless continued with the funds that gradually arrived. The Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of the Metropolitan City and the provinces of Oristano, Medio Campidano, Carbonia-Iglesias and Ogliastra entrusted the campaign, in 1990, to the Universities of Genoa, Padua, Pisa and the Tuscia of Viterbo. Then the alternation between the universities of Pisa and the Ca 'Foscari of Venice (in '98), which in turn passed the baton to the University of Milan in 2001. In 2013, finally, the University of Cagliari also appears in the research group, and it still exists.
Surface reconnaissance around the already excavated city went on from 1992 to 2002, then in 2010 a new survey front was opened towards the waters surrounding the peninsula (there is also a pond), to identify the submerged structures due to coastal erosion and sea level rise.
Covid-19 has blocked the campaigns of new summer excavations: they take place in the accessible part of the archaeological site of Nora, in the buildings partially investigated in the 1950s, and also in the center and north of the peninsula: the latter is the least examined area, due to the presence of the Navy buildings now in disuse. To "guess" what else can be discovered, the archaeologists coordinated by the Superintendency rely on other similar sites in the Mediterranean and on the analysis of written sources. Nora is a dead city, but its discovery is always alive: a little thin, because the funds available are few, but still alive.
