Murales in Sardinia

Good morning !

Today we talk about Sardinia. I love this region. My mother's family come from the province of Nuoro and I had the chance to meet and love this  amazing land , this post is dedicated in  memory of my uncle Francesco, a true Sardinian

This land is full of places to visit (not just its beautiful beaches) a millenary culture, the birthplace of the first Italian woman to win a Nobel Prize, an ancient culture of food and wine, a mysterious and beautiful language, music and dances that you will not find in other places in Italy and home of murals. My uncle always told me to look  and "read" them as if they were history books. Orgosolo, in Barbagia. can be defined as the Capital of Italian muralism with its 150 wall paintings that attract thousands of tourists., there are also other places that you must visit : Ozieri, Iglesias, Carbonia and San Teodoro.

Let's start talking about Orgosolo. The first mural of Orgosolo was made in 1969 by the group Dioniso, a group of Milanese anarchists. A few years later, in 1975, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Liberation from Nazi-fascism, the Tuscan teacher Francesco Del Casino and his students of the middle school of Orgosolo created a dozen murals along Corso Repubblica.

You walk into an open-air art gallery.

Subsequently it began to produce murals of different contents even in groups outside the school: the topic to be discussed and the execution of the work was agreed with the population, favorably affected by the initiative.

Later, the contribution of many other artists was added, including the orgolese painter Pasquale Buesca and the local cultural group Le Api.

The paintings usually deal with issues related to the local population and to Sardinia, but also tell the main Italian and international historical and social events. There are also numerous tributes to personalities and intellectuals ofthe 1900s. 

The political and social passion of the '60s and' 70s gave rise to collective murals with dramatic figures, a story about the life of the shepherds, misery and struggles for the land, the politicized ones of the '70s and' 80s that told the transformations of Italian society has left without notice the place for decorative "paintings" aimed at illustrating the daily life of the pastoral life and of the island villages.

At the moment there are more than 200 murals in Orgosolo which are now an integral part of the image of the country, attracting thousands of tourists from all over the world every year.

The techniques are very simple. Sardinian muralists use water-based paints, typical of the interior, and therefore extremely deteriorable, perhaps for an aesthetic choice whereby the works are repainted only if the community feels the need otherwise they are destined to disappear, left to memory and memory . The styles are quite diverse and go from impressionism to hyperrealism, from naive painting to realism.

If you are hungry, do not worry, we are in a land that can satisfy your palate.

I grew up with the flavors of Sardinia, my grandmother loved to cook traditional recipes, my grandfather and my uncle took me around and I fell in love with the Sardinian cuisine, the recipes of the shepherds' women, the delicacies prepared by the shepherds in the countryside and much more yet.

Let's start :
Malloreddus Sardinian gnocchetti are one of the most traditional and typical dishes of this rich land.
Eat them with sausage, tomato and pecorino cheese.
Porceddu : It is a suckling pig, weighing less than five kilos or a maximum of twenty days, cooked for several hours.
Lamb. The lamb is prepared in various ways: stewed with fennel, baked, stewed with saffron and tomato, with peas.
Pecorino cheese . the most typical and characteristic flavors of this land: the Sardinian pecorino, both fresh and seasoned, is unmistakable
Fiore sardo : a typical cheese from Barbagia
Cordula. Stuff for strong palates. They are intestines of lamb or kid, filled with the meat of the same animal and then cooked on the grill.
Carasau bread. These are bread discs deliberately thin and crisp.
Pane Guttiau  This is the name that takes the carasau bread when it is seasoned with oil and salt.
Then we can start eating desserts amaretti, bianchetti, Arantzada Nugoresa, and the stunning Sebadas, are discs of thin dough that enclose a filling of fresh, slightly sour pecorino cheese, melted with semolina, or fresh cow, and flavored with lemon, fried and covered with melted honey, preferably bitter (like that of corbezzolo);

Wines? You can choose between Cannonau ( the most famous sardinian red wine ) Vermentino ( an incredible fruity white wine) Vernaccia, Greco Nero, Malvasia,Moscato, Nasco, Nuragos and much more


If you want to reach Orgosolo:

From Costa Smeralda Airport in Olbia : drive through SS 131( 116 Km) and arrive in Nuoro.  Take Provincial Road n 24 and you'll reach Orgosolo in 15 minutes.

From Elmas Airport in Cagliari : drive through SS 131 ( 195 km)  and arrive in Nuoro.  Take Provincial Road n 24 and you'll reach Orgosolo in 15 minutes.

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