September
BOSA
OUR LADY OF REGNOS ALTOS
Located
in the western part of Sardinia, on the right of Temo river, Bosa is easibly
reachable by the S.S. 131 with the diversion near Macomer. Ancient Bosa, mentioned
by Ptolemy and by Itinerari in a not very precise way, had Carthaginian origin,
but a long time before, in its territory, nuraghe constructions and prehistoric
tombs arose, but no marks remained. During the Roman period the town arose where
the S. Pietro Extramuros church is, almost certainly; it was a place of transition
towards Tharros, Cornus and Turris. In the middle age the Malaspina built the
Serravalle castle there. On the left bank of Temo there’s S. Antonio church,
dated back to the XV century, local adaption of gothic-aragonese shapes. From
here an asphaltec road running along the river leads, after 2 km , to the S.
Pietro Extramuros church. The building is the result of a long constructive
process developed in three different moments. The central body is dated back
to 1070, in Lombard-Romanesque style, the 
aspe
and the belltower were built in the XII century, while the beautiful façade,
part of the northern side and the first spans dates back to XIII century. Returned
to the built-up area and gone beyond the river bridge, there’s the Cathedral,
with its picturesque cupolas and its strong belltower. From here the characteristic
Corso Vittorio Emanuele begins, flanked with high houses with pretty little
balconies and interrupted by archs letting in adjacent lanes. In the end of
the Corso there’s the church of Rosario, with its big jutting out clock and,
at the top of the little façade, the characteristic belltower. Starting from
the Cathedral and going up a steep staircase, we arrive at the top of Serravalle
castle, built up in 1112 according to someone, in 1221 according to others,
whose towers and walls remain. Inside the walls there’s the fifteenth-century
church of S. Giovanni of the castle, called Nostra Signora de Sos Regnos Altos
(Our Lady of High Reigns). The second Sunday of September there’s the most characteristic
event in Bosa, the feast of Nostra Signora de Sos Regnos Altos, between the
Malaspina castle and historical centre road. The previous Saturday the real
feast takes place: the Holy Virgin simulacrum, embellished with jewels, is carried
from the church situated inside the castle to the Cathedral, through the whole
sa costa (the coast) with obbligatory stops at little altars. The procession
stops at each altar for a short prayer and then it keeps on. On the average
there are about fourty altars, so the conclusion of the procession is about
3 hours later. Holy Virgin simulacrum stays in the Cathedral until the next
afternoon , when it is carried back to the castle with no stops. The main characteristic
of this feast are tables prepared in the private houses and in commercial areas
offering to friends and visitors typical dishes of local gastronomy, such as
beans with meat and lard, garlic sauce of fishes, sausages sprinkled with black
and strong local wine and malvasia.
BORTIGALI
SAINT MARY THE SAUCCU
Located
as an amphitheatre at the foot of the trachytic mount of Santu Padre at the
height of 510 metres, Bortigali is easily reachable entering the fork of Macomer-Nuoro
at 142th km of S.S. 131. Its territory is rich in very interesting itineraries,
as the Sentiero Natura, from Bortigali to Mulargia, which, through a course
rich in important naturalistic emergencies, allows to visit even the most significant
archaeological monuments and arriving at the hamlet of Mulargia, a little rural
village whose name comes from grindstones, that it produced since the Roman
period. Another itinerary is the path of Bortigali-Santu Padre, that, going
through areas having a lot of wonderful landscapes, arrives at the peak of S.
Padre mount, from where we can watch a breathtaking landscape, in which falaises
some colonies of griffins seasonally stay. 
People
who arrive at Bortigali should visit its historical centre, to discover the
old rural architectures, refined and adorned with Catalan-Aragonese portals
and architraves, to discover the bourgeois buildings in Corso Vitt. Emanuele
and its churches. Only in the built-up area there are six churches, the parish
one of S. Maria degli Angeli, Rosario, S. Palmerio, S. Croce, S. Giuseppe and
S. Antonio, each one in a good state and rich in artistical properties. In the
Bortigali territory there are 41 nuraghes, 10 domus de janas, 2 dolmen and 2
tombe dei giganti (Giants tombs). The most considerable monument is the stately
Orolo nuraghe, reachable either on foot through the Sentiero Natura, or by car
through the provincial road (S. P.) directed to Mulargia. It is made up of a
two-storied central tower and an added bilobate body. In Bortigali there are
many feasts that scan almost continuously the passing of seasons. They begin
in January with the feast of S.Antonio Abate and continue in Easter with Holy
Week rites. In April there’s a feast in honour of S. Marco, on Ferragosto (August
15th) there’s the feast of the Assumption and in September the one in honour
of S. Maria de Sauccu. We have proved informations about this feast thanks to
administrative registers since 1606 and it maintained its traditional characteristics
and its genuineness almost intact. Celebrations begin each year the 7th of September
and they finish the 17th. In September, in the morning, two distinct processions
accompany two simulacra of Our Lady to the church situated in the homonymous
mountain village (reachable by car too by coming from the provincial street,
S. P., of Campeda-Bolotana): the first procession , exclusively composed by
faithful people going on foot, takes the smallest simulacrum, S. Mariedda; the
second one, which begins a few hours later, it is made up of some fifty brethren
on foot, dressed in a white tunic and of some hundred of horsemen (some of them
have their lady on the back, on an original saddle called striglione) and it
accompanies the biggest simulacrum of S. Maria Manna. The sound of drummers
and of thousand rifle blank shots hail the start and the arrival (after 3 hours
about) of the procession. The 17th, the procession get back by the same route;
in particular the S. Maria Manna simulacrum arrives at Bortigali at about 12
a.m.; during the whole evening the simulacrum is carried to all families of
the town; in the end it is placed in the S. Croce church, accompanied by the
hail of riflemen.
CAGLIARI
THE NECROPOLIS OF TUVIXEDDU
Located
in the high part of Cagliari, on the hill dominating S.Avendrace quarter, the
Punic-Roman necropolis of Tuvixeddu is easily reachable from Falsarego street.
Between the end of the VIII century B.C. and the beginning of the VII, Phoenician
people founded the town of Karali, close to S.Gilla watertight. But in a short
time, in the VI century B.C., Phoenician colonies were absorbed by Carthago,
that used them as centres of expansion in the country. The realization of the
necropolis on the hill of Tuvixeddu dates back to this period. Tombs are as
a well, even 4,5 metres deep, in order to avoid foreigners violations, they
have a parallelepiped shape from whose basis, in the frontal part, a little
room where the dead was lodged extends. Well’s walls have some linear projections
used, after the closing of the little room, for the laying of stone slabs that
seal it up even better; walls also have little symmetrical cavities as support
for feet to go down easily. On the fore part of the well or just over the architrave
of the little front door of the room there are incised symbols as the head of
a bull, 
palms
or the mark of Tanit, the Punic Goddess that, according to religious convictions
of those people, were used for driving evil spirits away, for frightening possible
violators or for beseeching rebirth in the otherworldly life. The little rooms
measures about 2 metres per 0,6 metres and they have a pigeonhole burying place
dug out in the floor, or just the floor where the dead was buried , wrapped
just in a shroud, or inside a wooden coffin or covered with a big board. Amulets,
bowls, plates,amphorae and daily use things concerning dead’s job were found
in the tombs. Between the first and the second Punic war, III century B.C.,
Rome conquered Sardinia and Roman towns arose where there were Phoenician and
Punic centres. In Cagliari the Punic settling in S.Gilla remained until the
first century B.C., when the town was beginning to expand eastward. Afterwards
this settling was abandoned to be turned into a funerary area. In the Roman
period the Tuvixeddu hill maintained its sepulchral function. In part they used
the pre-existent tombs, in part new ones were dug out. These last ones are called
colombari, because of the presence of little cavities where urns with the ashes
of the dead were put. There are often one or more funerary benchs, called arcosolio,
incised in the rock, overhung by an arch, made out by the stone itself, where
the most important person of the family lay. At Tuvixeddu there are a lot of
these tombs, both in the northern extremity of the hill, where some Punic tombs
were enlarged and provided with colombari, and half-way up the hill, where there’s
the tomb of Caius Rubellius Clytius, a Roman noble, provided with an arcosolium
and niches for the urns. In the II century B.C. Karalis was provided with an
aqueduct whose northern branch is still visible for some ten metres in the part
of the necropoils that has tombs in section.
