On foot, in the "footsteps" of Santa Barbara

There is an epic in Sardinia that lasted hundreds of years: that of the miners and their hard struggle with the depths of the Earth. It is to this epic that Fabrizio Ardito - journalist, writer, photographer - pays homage in his exciting "At the center of the Earth" (Ediciclo, 2022, Euro 17.00, pp. 208), a journey through the testimonies of the millenary Sardinian mining story , between ghost towns and forgotten mines, with the blue of the sea in the background.

During his journey, Ardito tells us about ancient paths and paths traveled for centuries by miners, huge construction sites that have changed the shapes of the landscape, immersed in the silence of the scrub or in the thick shade of magnificent forests. The path dedicated to Barbara, the patron saint of miners from all over the world, winds along a ring that has at its center the city of Iglesias, in the southwest of Sardinia. A long walking itinerary marked by encounters with the memories of the civilization born in the island mines, with the great and small stories of men, women and children who worked and fought, day after day, in the stone heart of the mountains. To Fabrizio Ardito, not new to trips of this type, we first of all ask how his passion for pedibus calcantibus itineraries was born, to put it in the way of the ancients: "I have always liked walking, also thanks to my father's passion for the mountain and twenty years of caving. Many years ago I was curious to understand the reasons that pushed an ever increasing number of modern pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago. After much reflection in 2004 I left, alone, and after more than a month on the road, I realized that walking was not just a strange fashion but that it would become one of the great news in the world of travel and tourism in Europe. It is not just a way of traveling but also (perhaps above all) the discovery of a very particular rhythm of life: quiet, curious, unhurried and open to meeting others ”.

And how did the decision to walk the path of Santa Barbara come about?

“I had been lucky enough to know the Sardinian south west on several occasions, visiting for work, including photographs and films, mines and industrial archeology sites. So, when I learned that a path of a certain size had been structured little by little - 30 stages for 500 kilometers - thanks to the work of a splendid group of enthusiasts, the idea was born to discover it up close, obviously on foot. In May 2021, in 25 days of travel, with two long-time friends we covered a large part of the route. Which proved not always easy, very varied and often surprising even for those who know the island ".

What peculiarities can you discover walking the path of Santa Barbara?

“As always happens when you think you know an area you have crossed by car well, once again there were many surprises. First of all the enormity of the landscapes of industrial Sardinia, of the old abandoned mines and of the plateaus on which our path has brought us. In the stops between towns, towns and villages, it is understood that the relationship of the inhabitants of the area with the history of their mining past is strong, but contradictory. On the one hand there is the admiration for the grandiose cathedrals of the mining industry that have changed the face of the area and the social and political history of an entire community. On the other hand - perhaps especially among the youngest - there is a form of condemnation and rejection of the exploitation of labor on which, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the success of the mining activity ".

What things surprised you the most?

"I found the extension of the large forests populated by deer and wild boar exceptional that, from Perd'e Pibera to Monti Mannu, for days constitute the landscape in which one moves from morning to evening, with a great silence that accompanies the of walking. It is a completely different environment from what a tourist normally expects from Sardinia, too often seen only as a land of clear beaches, exclusive discos and summer holidays ".

What will the next foot venture be?

“For heaven's sake, the term enterprise is not suitable for a long journey nor is it particularly suitable for a slow middle-aged walker like me. Having cleared the field of this misunderstanding, the next long journey on foot that I think I will take will be the Primitive Way, the oldest of the routes directed to Santiago de Compostela, which starts from Oviedo and follows the stages of the journey made in the eighth century from the first monarch who ever reached the tomb of the apostle James: the king of Asturias Alfonso II the Chaste. Just over 300 kilometers, partly in the mountains and partly through the valleys and forests of Asturias and Galicia, up to the half-light of the cathedral of Santiago ”.