“Walking in Sardinia”: a guide to discovering the island among legendary forests, mountains and castles

Sardinia in 84 stages. Standing. From south to north and vice versa, counterclockwise. “Walking in Sardinia”, the seven volumes that will be on newsstands tomorrow with L'Unione Sarda, edited by the Nuorese geographer Matteo Cara, 42, already author of “Sentieri” dedicated to the Supramonte, tell about an Island unknown to the most unknown. Yet it is a lived-in Sardinia: these are the paths traveled by charcoal burners in the past centuries and before that by shepherds and by those who moved for transhumance. More recently, to sports enthusiasts who have opened new climbing routes in the Supramonte or to the miners who brought the fruit of their work to the coast in the Sulcis and Guspinese areas and then transferred it to ships.

The path

Matteo Cara is a profound connoisseur of Sardinia. As a geographer, one of the very few who work in our region ("I only know two or three others", he says), he brings together several disciplines in the footsteps of the great travelers of the nineteenth century. Like Alberto La Marmora in his famous “Voyage en Sardaigne” and “Itinerary of the Island of Sardinia”, he describes the territory in all its peculiarities, from geology to history to flora and fauna. Each path is a small compendium of real life, information, anthropological traces. The path, represented by the track downloaded with the QR code, is enriched with everything that has been in those places over the years and what it is today. "The one in the guides is not a simple list of itineraries to follow, but an invitation to discover the multifaceted nature of the Sardinian mountains", he explains. And if there is a difference with the past it is inherent in the love that Matteo Cara has for Sardinia. "I decided to study geography because I wanted to do a thesis on the Supramonte and work in this land," he says. The passion he inherited from his father, the competence he acquired over the years in the field and with specific research. Respect for the mountains then grows with the frequentation of places, but it is also something to be transmitted to those who want to walk the paths of the island.

The stages

The first volume, on newsstands tomorrow with L'Unione Sarda, is dedicated to the south-east of the island. It starts from the splendid crests of the Seven Brothers and reaches Ogliastra. Twelve unmissable itineraries. From the holm oaks of the forest compendium near Burcei, where the ancient pitches of the charcoal burners host deer and wild boar, to the primary forest of Tuviois, a heritage of inestimable wealth in the territory of Sinnai and a few kilometers from Cagliari. One of the few primary forests left on the island, with large trees and very few obvious signs of human intervention. Tuviois was saved from the onslaught of charcoal burners in past centuries because it was part of a "cussorgia", that is a territory in which only a few Sinnaese families could exercise civic uses and therefore the cutting of wood. What in the past could have been seen as a limit was the salvation for the holm oak forest.

Towards Ogliastra

It is difficult to imagine what is hidden in those mountains when you look away from Cagliari. You have to go there to find out. Just as the Flumendosa then introduces us to breathtaking views and beauties that make Instagram's fortune. Perda Liana is the magical limestone tower in Ogliastra, in the territory of Gairo, which can be seen from half of Sardinia and on which legends hover that go back in the mists of time. Just as unique is S'istampu su Turrunu, in the territory of Seulo, «a resurgent cave from which the waters that disappeared further upstream gush out, along the course of the Riu Longufresu», explains Cara. And no less is the Corongia Forest in Gadoni, «with its limestone towers overlooking the river and the labyrinths of rock dominated by the Su Campalini tower». Places that the geographer from Nuoro describes in their particularities to intrigue the reader and trigger the desire for an excursion, illustrated in all its characteristics, from the degree of ease to the duration up to the discovery of flora and fauna along the way.

What you don't expect

Returning to the more coastal Ogliastra there are other landscapes not to be missed. Like the ones that countess Violante II Carroz saw from the castle of Quirra, a stone's throw from the beautiful beach of Murtas. The overhang on the valley made it almost impregnable and the path that allows access to the manor, in the midst of the Mediterranean scrub, takes your breath away for the panoramas that open up to those who face the ascent. Without forgetting the Camminu 'e su filu (the path of the eagles) and Cartuccedu, we arrive at the Paule Munduge swamp, in the territory of Talana. A route to be done possibly in autumn after the first rains. You will discover a body of water where everything, even the fog, has a particular charm. The mouflons who go to drink in the pond know this well. A place that leaves you breathless. Like the other eleven paths of the first volume. And the subsequent ones are no less.

Giuseppe Deiana

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ALSO ON VIDEOLINA THE CYCLE OF 8 EPISODES: HERE the first

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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SARDINIA UNDER OUR FEET

Our land without mediations. The one seen here and now, but also the one that was yesterday and hopefully tomorrow as well. The island we know (briefly, alas) but also the one we do not suspect exists: unexpected landscapes, unknown natural monuments, daring descents, forests, waterfalls and so on. The book that will be on newsstands tomorrow is, in the intentions of L'Unione Sarda, all this and more. Seven volumes that, counterclockwise, scan Sardinia, from South East to South West passing through the interior, the Supramonte, the Tirso. Walking, in fact: this is the common thread. To travel on one's own legs (twelve per volume) itineraries that tell a complex mosaic (are we or are we not “almost a continent?”). Trails within everyone's reach and others more difficult but without surprises.

When we began to reason with the author of these guides, we assigned him an impossible mission: to help Sardinians to really know their home without constraints of physical fitness, age, rounded calves. The rule proved to be inapplicable: not everything is for everyone. We have remedied with information, which is the heart of our profession: at the top of each itinerary, you will find all the details to understand if it is suitable for you or not. There are family outings, walks of a few kilometers without noteworthy obstacles. Then intermediate excursions, with more demanding passages, and others that involve a higher fatigue coefficient. You will not find climbing, linked to experiences and skills different from those of the majority.

Again in terms of method, before each excursion you will find a QR-code: frame it with the phone camera, download the file, import it into any of the walking applications (the author suggests some, basically it is a matter of lowering the route on a map) and open it when you are there on your phone. Here is the Ariadne's thread, the road marked on your smartphone that makes walking really accessible. Getting lost, with the guide and a phone equipped with GPS, will be really complicated at this point. Incidentally, in the fundamentals of the route it is also indicated whether you are going to go to areas with or without telephone coverage, whether or not there are springs, what is the indicated season and the vice versa not recommended, if you will walk in full sun or in the sun. shadow.

Finally, we have tried to suggest mainly ring routes, routes that end where they started. It is not always possible: in those cases there are suggestions on where to leave the cars, organizing trips that include at least two vehicles.

Matteo Cara, who signs these books, seemed to us the best possible guide. Graduated in Geography, expert hiker, member of the CAI and of the Alpine Rescue. By the way, he is also a musician. But above all he is in love with the land that hosts him. It can be seen from the quantity of details that crowd its itineraries: the types of rocks, the plants, the stories of the men who lived there, the respect for the truth of the facts. He has walked every meter he tells with his boots and, by attitude, plays his role as Virgil with dedication and a watchful eye with respect to real and potential risks. From the Sette Fratelli mountains to Gallura, from Sulcis to Alghero passing through its beloved Supramonte and Ogliastra, it is a pleasure to rely on the advice of a professional who has never ceased to be amazed by the beauty around. With a philological spirit, he has also reconstructed toponyms that seemed forgotten and instead allow us to look at places beyond the veil of the present.

We have tried to take you everywhere, in the smaller islands (to name one, the extraordinary route in Caprera) but also on the highest peaks. One regret remains: there are no areas subject to military servitude. In one case we tried, we asked (it was a marginal detour) if the passage would then be allowed to walkers "sent by L'Unione Sarda": you can't find that excursion, the answer is imaginable.

Two more words for a necklace that, as well as being beautiful and useful, has perfectly fallen into the time we live: walking is democratic, has no cost or is very low, is good for health. But above all it makes us particularly aware of the space we inhabit and suggests an instinct and a desire for awareness. And identity, of course. The earth beneath our feet, in the end - after the seventh book and the 84th itinerary - will be even more ours. Or, at least, we hope so.

Lorenzo Paolini