A black and red postcard of Antonio Gramsci , hung with a clothespin on a thread inside a nocturnal bookstore, gazes out, beyond the stacks of novels and the dim light of a dimly lit shop window in Valencia's Ciutat Vella. It searches for a friendly face, finds your passing eyes. Seeing him shipwrecked, there alone, among so many foreign names, you feel pity. You decide to go in to keep him company. You ask why he's there, as if he were a distant relative lost over the years. Unaware that that simple postcard will be the end of a skein to unravel, retracing the intertwined life trajectories of so many Sardinians in the city.

Inside, you're greeted not by words in Spanish but in Italian, with light Sicilian nuances. Gabriele Nero , publisher and owner of the El Doctor Sax bookstore at Calle de Quart 21, immediately reiterates his origins. "I come from another island. I first lived in Turin, and now in Valencia since 2008. Why is Gramsci present?" he continues. "His thought places the individual, his education, and the construction of a social ethic back at the center. The book Favole di Libertà was among the first we translated into Spanish. However, in 2020, we paid homage to another Sardinian, albeit an adopted one: Gigi Riva . With Cagliari Campione , edited by journalist Enrico Romanetto, we retraced the most romantic history of Italian football. Riva, a bit like Gramsci, is anti-establishment. Giving voice to those who go against the grain of common morality and have something to say, to improve the lives of others, is my mission as a bookseller and publisher." He fiddles with materials to prepare for one of the many fairs that punctuate his weekends, traveling around Italy and Spain, but the story doesn't stop there: "We'd like to come to the island for some book-related event. For now, we'll be attending Più Libri Più Liberi , which will be held in Rome, over the Immaculate Conception long weekend. Thanks to Cagliari Campione ," he continues, "I've met so many people: the Sardinians on the island and those from the 'Altra Sardegna ', scattered around the world. Being with one of them never makes you feel like a stranger because it's as if they love showing you the best and most generous side of their land, of their way of being." He stops and writes two addresses on the back of Gramsci's postcard: "Here, I'll give it to you!" he concludes. "On the street behind me, you'll meet two of my Sardinian brothers. The place is called Santa Pasta , they cook excellently. A hundred meters away is the Circolo Shardana ."

Santa Pasta is located at Calle del Murillo 10, a stone's throw from Plaza del Mercado. It's run by Marco Fanari and Riccardo Vinci , two locals aged 34 and 38 from Guspini. At the entrance, besides the restaurant's distinctive logo, a flag of the Four Moors flies, and a menu of the most famous Italian and Sardinian pastas appears: from malloreddus alla campidanese to culurgiones , including panadas and seadas . Marco bakes a white pani frattau , Riccardo rolls out a pizza and says: "We've been here in town since 2018. We opened Santa Pasta on July 7, 2025. We're an artisanal pasta shop, and the pasta is made strictly by hand. The feedback was immediately positive: the neighborhood welcomed us with open arms, perhaps because we recreated the atmosphere of a typical village neighborhood where people stop not only to eat but also simply to chat or have a coffee." Marco turns and continues along Riccardo's lines: "We have lots of Sardinian friends who live here: we manage to see some often, others less. On holidays like Sa die de sa Sardigna , we cook for our fellow countrymen, to make them feel a little less distant from home, coordinated by the members of the Shardana club."

The threads of a network, invisible to the naked eye, seem real and connect, in a necklace, many pearls scattered throughout a town of nearly a million inhabitants. The holes in each of these pearls, at first glance sealed, now seem ajar, allowing a glimmer of light through which another voice's story can flow. The scattered islands, with their stories, create bridges and become an archipelago. A new Valencia comes to mind, similar to the open-air museum of Maria Lai, an artist Pierluigi Melis , president of the Circolo Shardana, knows well. "In Sardinia I worked at the Art Station in Ulassai. In Spain I obtained my tourist guide qualification in 2016, living there since 2011 after meeting my wife, a true Valencian. The foundations of the current club were laid in 2017, through a Facebook page managed by Luca Comino and Luigi Casada . A great point of reference was Salvatorina Fresi 's Improntas restaurant in Montresta: a true magnet for all those nostalgic for the island's dishes. On October 18th, Improntas restaurant won the Fregula D'Oro award and, in 2023, won an episode of the television program Little Big Italy , hosted by Francesco Panella. "Salvatoria is a source of pride for us," Melis continues, "but besides her, there are many people worth mentioning, such as Omar Cauli , professor of Physiopathology at the University of Valencia, Stefania Carta, translator of Tolkien's books and Sardinian authors into English, but also the engineer from Bitta who speaks to you in limba , the advertising graphic designer with innovative ideas to promote our culture. In addition to other places like Mamuthones Gourmet , Sardo , and L'Antica Osteria . There are so many stories. We will continue to unite them with our initiatives: from films to theatrical and musical shows that recall our origins without distancing themselves from the influences of the present, as often happens at the concerts of Nicola Agus , a friend of our circle."

To conclude the journey, we pass by the bookstore again. The photograph of Gramsci is no longer hanging. It's in your hands. You look into his eyes and he seems less alone. Perhaps he never was. Behind the postcard, writings, quotes, new names emerge. Perhaps they were there before, even if you couldn't see them.

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