December
THE
CRIB IN SARDINIA
SANTADI - ORANI
December is the month
in which, all over the world Christian, the Christmas is celebrated. In Sardinia,
although introduced recently, it is a party that she is taking more and more
foot also with the representation of the living manger or with the preparation
of characteristic mangers. Between these, two are from to put in evidence: the
manger in the caves of Is Zuddas of Santadi and that living of Orani
SANTADI
Santadi
is a sour-pastoral center of the distant Sulcis around 60 kilometers from Cagliari
and 30 from Carbonia. Known in medieval epoch as Saint Agatha and Saint Ada
de Solki or de Sol, everything his/her territory is rich of traces of human
installations that go up again to the period Nuragico and Prenuragico of historical
and archaeological interest what the fortitude of Pani Loriga, giants' grave
on the road for Terresoli and numerous Nuraghi. In the cave of Su Benatzu important
finds of prehistoric epoch and bones have been found again calcified of Prolagus
sardus Wagner, a kind of small extinct rodent by now. In the territory some
"furriadrixius" and "medaus" (small groups
of farmer's houses) are found of the Seven hundred one still perfectly preserved.
In the first two weeks of August the Marriage is developed "mauritano"
or "Maurreddino". The rite is reported to an ancient custom
proper of some populations of the Mauritania, that perhaps in Roman epoch, they
were moved to the Sulcis. They participate in the ceremony groups in custom
and wagons decorated to party that the bridegrooms accompany to the parish church.
Local specialties are the thrushes, the sausages, "is curruxionis"
(potato dumplings of potatoes), the mushrooms, him roast. Santadi possesses
an extraordinary wooded patrimony. To few kilometers from the inhabited center
it is extended the splendid forest of Pantaleo that understands secular oaks,
cork tree and ilex. The whole zone of Santadi is rich of fresh rising and of
an extraordinary brushwood that they have allowed the survival of the buck and
the fallow deer. In this environment the caves are inserted of “Is Zuddas”
famous for the presence of very rare eccentric aragoniti (mineral). In a room
of the cave, since 1989, a crib is prepared that recalls thousand of visitors.
It is present in cave since the first days of December and for the whole month
of January. The day after Christmas, the bishop of Iglesias celebrates the holy
mass in the room of the organ.
ORANI
Placed
in a beautiful basin between Ottana and Nuoro and dominated by the characteristic
cone of the "Gonare" mountain, visible to big distance, Orani is known
for his mines of talc and steatite and to have given the native to Constantine
Nivola and the painter engraver Mario Delitala. He is supposed that Orani was
center of one of those "Civitateses Barbariae" that in Roman
age they were centers of diffusion of the civilization in Sardinia. Orani belonged
to the judged of Torres; become feud under the aragonesi, it formed with other
countries, in the XVII century, a marquisate assigned to the De Silva. The museum
Nivola, inaugurated in 1995, it rises on the hill of "Su Cantaru"
and it consists of external spaces and of the big closed environment of the
ex wash-house and it exposes the work that document the most meaningful stops
of the artistic run of Constantine Nivola, sculptor of international fame. Between
Christmas and New Year's eve, the fraternity of the franciscans of Orani proposes
to the whole community a moment of reflection and meeting with the preparation
of the living crib. Following the example of Saint Francis that for first, the
night of Christmas, he wanted to reconstruct the humble environment in Bethlehem
and to contemplate the mystery of the Nativity, the community of Orani also
recrosses every year his tracks. The proposal of the living crib doesn't want
to be a pure moment of folklore but to introduce the Christian message again
is an occasion of meeting and fraternity for the whole community excluded not
the visitors that always find a warm reception to Orani.
FONNI
AND THE MOUNTAIN
Placed
to the center of the Barbagia of Ollolai, today, Fonni is attainable easily
crossing the first line of the road to fast slide that connects Nuoro with Lanusei.
Big pastoral center, place on a granite plateau to the northern strata of the
Gennargentu, with his thousand meters it is the tallest country of the island.
The sites of Gremanu signal you particularly, where the archaeological
park is being born; the nuraghe Logomache, of original and complex structure,
the perdas fittas, between Fonni and Gavoi, the graves of giants of Bidistili
and those of Madau. The place Gremanu is found to the strata of the mountains
of the Gennargentu in the you press some footstep of Caravai, next to
the footstep Correboi. The graves of Madau are found in place
attainable Pratobello from the road to fast slide or from the provincial one
that departs from Fonni. In the tall part of the inhabited area she is placed
the Basilica of Saint Maria of the Martyrs that includes the convent, the basilica
and the oratory. The convent and the ancient church of the Holy Trinità
had founded in 1610, in 1700 the church had widened becoming basilica, while
the construction of the oratory is going up again at 1759 o'clock. A stairway
handed to a spacious before courtyard the church, while on the right a secondary
passage also allows the entry the motors vehicles. The seventeenth-century church
of the Holy Trinità includes the aisle and the central presbytery, the
ancient sacristy and the chapels, on the left, of the immaculate Conception
of the agony and the Crucifix and, on the right, of the Sacred Heart and of
Saint Anthony of Padua. The 1700 amplification includes the aisle of the Madonna
of the Martyrs, the presbytery of the same one, the chapel of Saint Rosa from
Viterbo on the right and that of Saint Savior from Horta on the left, the new
sacristy, the chapel of the relics, the crypt and the oratory of Saint Michael.
Fonni is the only center Sardinian endowed with fittings of gone up again, situated
on the Bruncu Spina, that they allow the practice of the winter sports. The
territory is rich of spring and mineral waters, rivers and lakes, of wooded
areas and a flora and a fauna exclusive. These characteristics make of Fonni
a center loved by the tourists as I sojourn either summer that wintry. The
different excursions, in motorcar, to horse and afoot they allow of to come
to contact with the many archaeological sites, with the fauna and the flora
of which the zone has populated, with the traditions, the uses and the local
customs. Besides the tourist sector it is in strong growth that handicraft with
the production of carpets and necklaces in gold, while in that food, to the
production of the famous biscuit cheeses are placed side by side of only milk
of goat of the dairy Capralà and the cold cuts typical of Fonni produced
according to the ancient recipes from the Sausage factory handicraft Farms Gennargentu.
