The purpose of Sardinia Island
Author: Mary H. Worthy
The island of Sardinia has been in Italy for 150 years, but especially Italian has never returned. The cerdeñeses have maintained a simple lifestyle and a culinary culture that is based on the 3 million sheep in the island. Res Magasinet visited the island.
On the slope below the village meadows begin. Grassy meadows filled with myrtle and thyme, flanked by impenetrable forest of cactus, barbed wire in the nature. Behind the stone hut, which acts as a stable, we find Mario, which comes with a lamb in his arms. Sardinia has more than three million sheep, but only a little over 1.5 million people. The landscape is barren, a place for survivors. The sheep are in high grade, but also all the people who for millennia have learned to cope with such unflattering nature, but fascinating.
Every morning Mario leads the ‘pickup’ tricycle Village Inn to its small shaped network on the outskirts of town. This has been done throughout his adult life. Despite his age, somewhere between 80 and 90, handles agricultural tasks without problems. Nursing home or retirement home is an unfamiliar concept.
- The work with animals and small agricultural plot that keeps me alive, says Mario and all his face blooms.
The fact that Sardinia has the highest number of centenarians in the world population, along with Japan, was not surprised. Hard work and strong family connections are the cornerstones of the life of this man. Here are the children or relatives who care for their parents. With his frequent visits to see that Mario and his wife are well.
- Never would place them in an old house unless they become so sick that they cannot handle, says the daughter Lightweight
the Village Inn is located in the lesser known east coast of Sardinia. This is rarely the average tourist. Few bother crossing the opposite side of the island, but here is where it begins to approach cerdeñeses roots. Here is the passage of time marked by slow movements and changes. Traditions of old Europe have been well preserved – a legacy of the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines and Spanish. It is a region characterized by inhospitable mountainous areas like the mountains of Gennargentu and virgin coastal region of the Gulf of Orosei with beautiful, pristine beaches.
This year marks the 150 years since the Italian took over the island, but especially Italian Sardinia has never returned.
- In their eyes, are too reserved, taciturn and withdrawn, but nothing could be more wrong, says Light. Legs are not lost or country cousins, but people proud, stubborn and very generous. We cerdeñeses, simply.
We take protection in the restaurant she and her husband Ignatia against a storm approaching. Behind the fire in the spacious kitchen sets Ignatia immediately prepare a fish soup, Minosha, fresh fish the river Posse, other seafood delights like Boccone, a kind of local seafood and freshly caught octopus.
The gastrononomía of the island is characterized by self-produced food made from old recipes mixed with elements of modern Italian cuisine. The national dish is otherwise roast suckling pig, maialetto (porceddu – porcetto).
- The main ingredients of the kitchen ‘sarda’ natural reasons are all providing the sheep, such as milk used to make cheese pecorino, has Ignatia.
On the way up to the Emerald Coast in Oliena make a stop at the foot of Supramonte. Here lays an elegant resort, used by a number of celebrities since it was built in the mid 1960′s. Stars like Madonna, Richard Gere and Claudia Schiffer have been here to relax and get away from the hunting of media celebrities. The owner still has his old Madame Pasqua family farmhouse on the slopes of the mountain. A ‘resort’ very personal four-star that fits very well with the concept of agritourism.
- For almost 50 years, long before eco-tourism had become a household word, we realized that everything we did in His Gologone should be in harmony with nature and already started working with local food the region, she says
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