Facts and Trivias about Sardinia

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I'm going to copy and past from another site.

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http://notizie.tiscali.it/regioni/media/13/11/gregge.jpg_415368877.jpg :D

Sardinia is home to nearly 4 million sheep, almost half of the entire Italian assets and that makes the island one of the areas of the world with the highest density of sheep along with some parts of UK and New Zealand (135 sheep every square kilometer versus 129 in UK and 116 in New Zealand).

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http://legacy.ingv.it/roma/attivita/pererischio/mappa-max-int/immagini/mappa.jpg

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/GroundskeeperWillie.png/220px-GroundskeeperWillie.png

Willie is the groundskeeper of Springfield Elementary School. In the original series, he comes from Scotland: the public can understand it both from his accent (which is really different from the one used by Springfield inhabitants) and from the kilt he often wears. Willie is solitary and aggressive and often talks about his Scottish rural life and childhood; he is “diverse”, he acts and speaks differently from the Springfield community and this fact is often highlighted.

It was difficult to recreate all the features of this character in the Italian version of the show: in fact, the translators had to recreate Willie’s solitary and aggressive nature, which in the U.S. version correspond to the stereotype of Scottish people. “The fundamental difficulty that the Italian translator and dialogue writer encountered was the fact that the Scottish stereotype in Italy does not correspond to the characteristics that Willie presents.” In fact, Italians think that the Scottish people are red-headed, avid people who drink a lot; therefore, the Italian stereotype cannot correspond to Willie’s nature and his constant reference to rural childhood. The solution adopted by the translators was drastic: they completely changed Willie’s country of origin. In the Italian version, in fact, he comes from Italy or, more precisely, from Sardinia!

Why did they choose this solution? The translators and dialogue writers decided to transfer Willie’s Scottish stereotype to another country (region, in this case) whose stereotype fits the same characteristics for the Italian audience.

“Today Sardinia is one of the most exclusive and expensive locations for tourism in Italy, but in the stereotypical view of Italians it still remains isolated and it is seen as very rural; traditional representation of people from this region figures a rustic lifestyle and people usually working as shepherds.” Therefore, Willie’s origins from Sardinia correspond to his nature more than his origins from Scotland for the Italian public, because Sardinians are viewed as rural and solitary (the region is the most isolated one from the peninsula) which actually are Willie’s most important characteristics.

This process of drastic modification is an example of domestication and re-territorialization of a character. In fact in the Italian show, Willie is literally transferred to Italy: he speaks with a Sardinian accent and always says that he comes from Sardinia. When in the American show Willie talks about his Scottish origin, in the Italian version this is always changed by talking about Sardinia.

The major problem faced by the dialogue writers has been the fact that Willie often wears a kilt, which is a typical and undeniable reference to Scotland. Sometimes this element is simply ignored in the Italian translation, while sometimes it is considered as a skirt; it is actually used as an element that adds oddity, strangeness and diversity to the character.

Just two episodes translated for the Italian audience presented insurmountable difficulties and ambiguity, because there were specific visual and linguistic references to Willie’s Scottish origins. The episodes are “Lard of the Dance” (“Tanto va Homer al lardo che…”) and “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love” (“Monty non può comprare amore”).

The first episode is more easily translatable because every piece of information or joke about Willie is based on language. In the episode Homer decides to enter the grease-recycling business and make money in this way; so he tries to steal Springfield’s Elementary school waste with Bart, but Willie discovers them. In order to defend himself and fool Willie, Homer pretend to be an exchange student from Scotland, so he starts talking with a marked Scottish accent. When he hears that Homer is also Scottish, Willie becomes excited and asks Homer where he comes from, and Homer answers that he comes from “North Kilt Town” and Willie is extremely happy because he says this is the same town he comes from and asks Homer if he knows Angus McLeod. The dialogue is funny because Willie talks with a marked Scottish accent and Homer tries to talk like him.

simpson accenti dialetti willie scozzese sardo winchester napoletano

The entire dialogue is translated and transferred to the Italian context by substituting every reference to Scotland with a reference to Sardinia. Therefore, Homer affirms he comes from “Nord Pecurone” (an invented town, which literally means “North Big Sheep Town”) and Willie asks if he knows Salvatore Udda, which is a typical Sardinian name; the whole dialogue is characterized by a strong Sardinian accent. “The correspondence between North Kilt Town and Nord Pecurone, between Angus McLeod and Salvatore Udda and between the accents is accurate and very creative. In the first case the name of Willie’s hometown is based on very stereotypical traits: the kilt from Scotland and the sheep for Sardinia; similarly, the reference to Angus McLeod and Salvatore Udda is comical because the two names respectively sound undeniably from Scotland and Sardinia.” Therefore, the conversation is completely transferred into the Italian context by using a stereotype about Sardinia, which corresponds to the stereotype that Americans have about Scotland: this is a typical example of re-territorialization. Moreover the conversation has the same consequences both for the American and the Italian audience: confirming Willie’s origins from Scotland (in the U.S. version) and Sardinia (in the Italian version).

The other episode, “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love”, was more difficult for the translators and is ambiguous for the Italian audience.

It talks about a travel that Mr. Burns wants to do in Scotland: he is looking for the Loch Ness monster and wants to capture it and take it to Springfield. Mr. Burns forces Homer, Willie and Professor Frink to go and help him.

When they arrive at the lake, Homer sees an older couple that really looks like the groundskeeper Willie. The latter, in fact, says that those are his parents who own a tavern nearby and that he was “conceived, born and educated” there. For the American audience there is nothing strange or different from the previous episodes in this sentence, because they already know that Willie comes from Scotland.

But it’s not like that for the Italian audience. The Italian adaptation presents many difficulties for the translators, because the visual elements completely contradict what the audience previously learned about the character. First of all, the episode has plenty of references to Scotland, which are very explicit; secondly, the couple undoubtedly resembles Willie, so the Italian audience could wonder why Willie’s parents are from Scotland if he speaks Sardinian.

Instead of clarifying information about the character, the Italian dialogue increases the ambiguity about Willie. Only in this episode, in fact, his origin is changed to Scotland, but the translators made every person in the crowd speak with a Sardinian accent. In addition, after revealing that he was born in Scotland, Willie makes two “precise references to Sardinia that immediately transfer him back to the Italian context.”First, when Homer goes underwater and does not reappear on the surface for a while, Willie claims that Homer shows more “stubbornness” than a “goat from Gennargentu”; later in the episode, after Mr. Burns manages to capture the monster by himself, Willie says he is “stronger than Gigi Riva”.

Throughout these elements, then, Willie is immediately re-transferred into the Italian context.

All in all, we can say that the translators have been able to re-territorialize Willie’s character, especially at a linguistic level. The reason is that Sardinian is the only idiom in Italy which is not only a dialect, but a real different language, incomprehensible to other Italians. Therefore, Willie’s Sardinian origin and accents place him as an “outsider” and “diverse” from the Springfield community, which is the same role he plays in the U.S. version as a Scotsman.

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Sardinia is the italian region with the fastest internet connection and the best internet performance.

http://notizie.tiscali.it/articoli/scienza/13/06/adsl-veloce-sardegna-prima.html

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The Holy patroness of Sardinia gives the name to the capital of Argentina


http://www.bbcagliari.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/basilica-di-bonaria-cagliari.png
Basilica of Bonaria in cagliari, Sardinia.


In the first foundation of Buenos Aires Pedro de Mendoza called the city "Holy Mary of the Fair Winds", a name chosen by the chaplain of Mendoza's expedition, a devotee of the Virgin of Buen Ayre, whose statue is kept in the Basilica of Bonaria, in Sardinia. Mendoza’s settlement soon came under attack by indigenous people, and was abandoned in 1541. But the sailors who had brought him there were Sardinians and they wanted the city to be called City of Our Lady of Bonaria. They argued, but in the end they compromised. So, the city's name turned out to be rather long. They named it the City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Our Lady of Bonaria'. Since it was so long, only the last word remained: Bonaria, meaning Buenos Aires, in memory of Our Lady of Bonaria.

Our Lady of Bonaria is the Holy patroness of Sardinia.

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Nine brothers and sisters in Sardinia who have a combined age of 818 years have been officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest siblings, cementing the Mediterranean island's reputation for longevity.

Experts attribute the ripe old age of the Melis family to a combination of good genetics, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle.
They come from the village of Perdasdefogu in a mountainous region of Sardinia called the Barbagia, which was known to the ancient Romans as ‘Barbaria’, or land of the barbarians.
The ruggedness of the region has repelled invaders for centuries, helping to maintain a distinct gene pool.
The oldest of the siblings, Consolata, will celebrate her 105th birthday today/on Wednesday, while the “baby” of the family, Mafalda, is a comparatively spry 78 years old.
The siblings say part of the secret of their longevity is being surrounded by their 150 children, grand children and great-grand children.

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http://marcocamedda.blog.tiscali.it/files/2009/08/uid_1233e9562eb.580.0.jpg


Sa Isthrumpa, also known as Sardinian Wrestling, is a traditional Sardinian sport, officially recognized by the Italian National Olympic Committee and the Federation of Celtic wrestling.

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http://richestman2013.com/world-top-10-expensive-hotels/

In 2013 also the most expensive hotel in the world is in Sardinia.


1. The Le Dune, Forte Village Resort Le Dune, Forte Village Resort is Most expensive hotel in the world, located on the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia scored the top spot in the list with an average rate of $2539 per Day
http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/Travel/ht_Le-Dune_Forte_Village_Resort_Sardinia_pool_villa_room _thg_wg.jpg


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2. Royal Mansour Location:Marrakech Country:Morocco Cost per Day:$2060 —————————————————————————————————


3. Hotel Pitrizza Location:Sardinia Country:Italy Cost per Day:$2041
http://www.costasmeraldaitalia.com/hotel_pitrizza.jpg

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4. Villa del Parco Location:Sardinia Country:Italy Cost per Day:$2031
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/942516_10151625688736084_1568654537_n.jpg————————— ————————————————————————

5. Amankora & Spa Location:Paro Country:Bhutan Cost per Day:$1910 —————————————————————————————————

6. Hotel Cala di Volpe Location:Sardinia Country:Italy Cost per Day:$1904
http://www.drakeandcavendish.com/Travel_Guides/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Cala-di-Volpe.jpg
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7. Hotel Romazzino Location:Sardinia Country:Italy Cost per Day:$1850
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m-apBFT_HRA/UNRpK-cLOwI/AAAAAAAA_Kc/DoHy0aJTp0A/s640/hotel-romazzino4.jpg

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8. Maia Luxury Resort and Spa Location:Anse Louis Country:Seychelles Cost per Day:$1692 —————————————————————————————————

9. Southern Ocean Lodge Location:Kangaroo Island Country:Australia Cost per Day:$1665 —————————————————————————————————

10. Lizard Island Location:Great Barrier Reef Country:Australia Cost per Day:$1651

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http://im.rediff.com/money/2013/nov/26street5.jpg

The highest-priced residential address in Europe is situated on the exclusive Mediterranean island of Sardinia. This is according to the new ranking of Europe’s most expensive addresses, which Engel & Völkers has just published. It is based on the residential real estate brokered or registered by Engel & Völkers in 2012. In comparison to 2011, prices in most locations remained at record highs and at an incredibly high level compared to other residential locations on the overall property market.

The Bay of Romazzino in the exclusive resort of Porto Cervo is currently the highest-priced residential location in Europe, with house prices reaching up to €300,000 per square metre.

In second place ranks the Avenue d’Ostende, which boasts direct views overlooking the marina in Monaco. Prices of up to €100,000 per square metre are paid for residential real estate in this sought-after location. London once again ranks in third place on the list, led by Knightsbridge.
Here, purchase prices per square metre can reach up to €93,000.



http://www.engelvoelkers.com/blog/2013/europes-most-expensive-addresses-romazzino-bay-on-sardinia-leads-current-ranking/

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130616/business-news/Romazzino-Bay-on-Sardinia-is-Europe-s-most-expensive-address.474094

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The other language where happens the same is the latin. Sardinian is considered by many linguists the most conservative among the romance languages and the closest one to the ancient latin.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-ttOElOOJI

As said in the previous post Groundskeeper Willie in Italy is dubbled with a Sardinian accent and not Scottish and obviously he speaks often putting the verb at the end of phrases as happened in this clip :D

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http://www.meteoweb.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/foreste-italia.jpg
Map by the Infc (Inventario nazionale delle foreste e dei serbatoi di carbonio)


The 50% of the territory is covered by forested areas, 1,213,250 hectares (12,132 km2).

The Corpo forestale e di vigilanza ambientale della Regione Sarda is the Sardinian Forestry Corps, that is autonomous by the italian forestry corps.

Sardinia is the Italian region mostly affected by forest fires during the summer.

http://www.sardegnaambiente.it/j/v/152?s=67494&v=2&c=1562&t=1

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Sassari_Panorama.jpg
Panoramic view of Sassari


According to a study published by Weatherwise in 2014 the city of Sassari (130,000 inhabitants) has one of the best weather in the world.


The 10 Best Weather Places in the World

"Located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea on northern Sardinia, Sassari experiences some of the most comfortable weather on the planet. The average annual daily high temperature for Sassari is 66.4°F, and the mean annual daily low temperature is 53°F. August, the warmest month, sees an average daily high temperature of 82°F and a mean nighttime low of 66°F. The coldest month in Sassari, January, experiences a daily average high of 54°F and a nighttime low of 43°F. Just under 27.5 inches of rain fall on Sassari annually, on average, with most falling from fall through early spring"

http://www.weatherwise.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2014/March-April%202014/10-best-full.html

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http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TATr7EFVjis/ToIjWcBe7OI/AAAAAAAAILA/ChKpah4dcXc/s400/casumarzu.jpg

Casu marzu (also called casu modde, casu cundídu, casu fràzigu in Sardinian language, or in Italian formaggio marcio, "rotten cheese") is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae.

Although found mostly in Sardinia, Italy, the cheese is also found in Corsica, France (former Italian island until 1768) where the local dialect is very similar to Italian. The name of the cheese is pronounced the same in Corsica and Sardinia, but is spelled "casgiu merzu" in Corsican language.

Derived from Pecorino, casu marzu goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage most would consider decomposition, brought about by the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly Piophila casei. These larvae are deliberately introduced to the cheese, promoting an advanced level of fermentation and breaking down of the cheese's fats. The texture of the cheese becomes very soft, with some liquid (called lagrima, from Sardinian language for "tear") seeping out. The larvae themselves appear as translucent white worms, about 8 millimetres (0.3 in) long.



Legality

Because of European Union food hygiene-health regulations, the cheese was outlawed for a time, and offenders faced heavy fines. However, it remained possible to acquire casu marzu on the black market, where it could sell for double the price of an ordinary block of pecorino cheese.

Attempts have been made to circumvent the EU ban by having casu marzu declared a "traditional" food (it has been made in the same manner for more than 25 years, and it is therefore exempt from ordinary food hygiene regulations). The traditional method of making the cheese is explained by an official paper of the local government.

A cooperation between sheep farmers and researchers of the University of Sassari developed a hygienic method of production, in 2005, aiming to allow the legal selling of the cheese. However, as of November 2013, ‘casu marzu’ or ‘casu frazigu’ is not listed as a recognized traditional food in the EU Database of Origin and Registration or in the list of the Italian Ministero delle politiche agricole. Therefore, the legal status of casu marzu in the EU remains questionable.


Other regional variations

Similar milk cheeses notable for containing living insect larvae are produced in several Italian regions and in Corsica, France.

Casgiu merzu in Corsica, France
Marcetto or cace fraceche in Abruzzo
Gorgonzola co-i grilli in Liguria
Salterello in Friuli Venezia Giulia
Furmai nis (formaggio Nisso) in Emilia Romagna
Frmag punt in Apulia
Casu du quagghiu in Calabria
Cacie' Punt (formaggio punto) in Molise

There are several other regional varieties of cheese with fly larvae in Europe. For example, goat-milk cheese is left to the open air until Piophila casei larvae are naturally laid in the cheese. Then it is aged in white wine, with grapes and honey, preventing the larvae from emerging, giving the cheese a strong flavour. In addition, other regions in Europe have traditional cheeses that rely on live arthropods for ageing and flavouring, such as the German Milbenkäse and French Mimolette, both of which rely on cheese mites.

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http://www.bierclub.net/bilder_bier/2490_2011-01-16_Ichnusa.jpg

Sardinia boasts the highest consumption of beer per capita in Italy, 60 liters per person per year, almost double the national average.

The Province of Nuoro has the highest consumption with an average of 100 liters per capita.

Ichnusa is the most known brand of beer produced in Sardinia.

The discovery of jars containing hops, in some island archaeological sites, evidence that beer was produced since the copper age.

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The sardonic smile or sardonicism (from Latin: Risus sardonicus) is the expression of derision, cynicism or skeptical humor variously through comment, gesture or writing. This term is originated and associated with Sardinia and its people and their ancient customs.

In Theory and History of Folklore, Vladimir Propp discusses alleged examples of ritual laughter accompanying death and killing, all involving groups. These he characterized as sardonic laughter.

Among the very ancient people of Sardinia, who were called Sardi or Sardoni, it was customary to kill old people. While killing their old people, the Sardi laughed loudly. This is the origin of notorious sardonic laughter (Eugen Fehrle, 1930), now meaning cruel, malicious laughter. In light of our findings things begin to look different. Laughter accompanies the passage from death to life; it creates life and accompanies birth. Consequently, laughter accompanying killing transforms death into a new birth, nullifies murder as such, and is an act of piety that transforms death into a new life.

According to other theories the sardonic smile was used by the ancient sardinians (Nuragic people) to intimidate and taunt the enemies before the battle.

A toxic plant called water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) is the candidate for the "sardonic herb," which was a neurotoxic plant used for the ritual killing of elderly people in pre-Roman Sardinia. When these people were unable to support themselves, they were intoxicated with this herb and then dropped from a high rock or beaten to death.

Today sardonic smile is a term used in medicine to explain a grin from spasm of the facial muscles associated with tetanus and other poisonings.

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Campione!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Campione%21_light_novel_vol_1_cover.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAuUF-3y8lU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tk_1I2NV4

Campione! (カンピオーネ! Kanpiōne!?, lit., "Champion!") is a Japanese light novel series written by Jō Taketsuki and illustrated by Sikorski. It has been published by Shueisha in their Super Dash Bunko imprint since September 2008. It has been adapted into a manga series published in Shueisha's Super Dash & Go!. A 13-episode anime television series, produced by Diomedéa aired in Japan on AT-X and Tokyo MX beginning in July 2012 and ended in September 2012. Sentai Filmworks released an English dub of the TV series in North America. The novel's story focuses on Godou Kusanagi, a retired baseball player, as he becomes a Campione after killing the god of war, Verethragna.


Tottoi - The secret of the Seals

http://amatasardegna.altervista.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Tottoi.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJPNbAx-_9s

Tottoi is an anime directed by Norifumi Kiozumi, in 1992, and produced by the Nippon Animation.
It tells the story of a group of boys that save from the poachers the last two specimens of Mediterranean Monk Seals, living on the Sardinian east coasts. The cartoon is set mainly in Cala Gonone, and in the Bue Marino's Grottos.

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The first italian anthem after the unification happened in 1861 was that one of the Kingdom of Sardinia, called Himnu Sardu Nationale (Sardinian National Anthem) or Cunservet Deus su Re (God protect the King), written in 1843.

Today this anthem is played in official occasions very rarely, for example when a sardinian is elected president of the italian republic.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDmS8AoeimM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJwnM9eK1pQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waUuNrQP1LA






Lyrics in Sardinian Language:


Salvet su Regnu Sardu
Et gloria a s'istendardu
Cuncedat de su Re!
chi manchet in nois s'animu
chi languat su valore
Pro fortza o pro terrore
Non apas suspetu, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...Unu o omni chentu intrepidos
A ferru et a mitralia
In vallu e in muralia
amus andare o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...Solu in sa morte cedere
Soliat su Sardo antigu
Né vivu a' s'inimigu
deo m'apa a dare, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...De fidos et fort'omines
Si fizos nos bantamus
Bene nos provaramus
Fizos issoro, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...De ti mostrare cupidu
Sa fide sua, s'amore
Sas venas in ardore
Sentit su Sardu, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...Indica un adversariu
E horrenda da su coro
Scoppiat s'ira insoro
A unu tou cinnu, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...Cumanda su chi piagati
Si bene troppu duru,
E nde sias tue seguru
chi at a esser fatu, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...Sa forza qui mirabile
Là fuit a' su Romanu
E innanti a s'Africanu
Tue bideras, o Re.
Conservet Deus su Re...Sa forza qui tant'atteros
Podesit superare
Facherat operare
Uno tuo cinnu, o Re.
Cunservet Deus su Re...Sos fidos fortes homines
Abbaida tue contentu
chi an a esse in onzi eventu
cales jà fuint, o Re.
Conservet Deus su Re
Salvet su Regnu Sardu
Et gloria a s'istendardu
Concedat de su Re!

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Sassari's Brigade, is a unit of the Italian Army (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Army) based on the island of Sardinia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia), divided in two infantry regiments. It was founded in 1915, when it was almost exclusively constituted by sardinian soldiers.


The Sassari distinguished itself in combat during the World War I, becoming the highest decorated Italian unit during that conflict, earning one gold medal of military valor for each regiment plus other individual honours:


6 Military Orders of Savoia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Order_of_Italy)
9 Gold Medals of Military Valor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Medal_of_Military_Valor)
405 Silver Medals of Military Valor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Medal_of_Military_Valor)
551 Bronze Medals of Military Valor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Medal_of_Military_Valor)



The Brigade employed often in out of area operations and has served in Bosnia, Lebanon, Kosovo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Force), Afghanistan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Security_Assistance_Force) and in Iraq (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-National_Force_%E2%80%93_Iraq).

The brigade's hymn is sung in Sardinian language and it's entitled Dimonios.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcgt-0zLTlI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassari_Mechanized_Brigade

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Meridiana, previously known as Alisarda, is an arline headquartered in Olbia, Sardinia. It operates domestic and even intercontinental flights.

The company was set up with the name of Alisarda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alisarda) on March 29, 1963 by the prince Aga Khan IV with the aim of promoting luxury tourism in Sardinia. Scheduled flights commenced in 1964.

In 1989, 35% of new stock was released to new shareholders to strengthen the company and the name Meridiana was adopted on 3 May 1991. The first international services were operated later in 1991 to Barcelona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona), Paris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris), London (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) and Frankfurt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt).

At the end of February 2010, Meridiana fly was inaugurated, the second largest carrier in Italy, from the merger of two air transport players: Eurofly, a company specialized in charter services to long haul holiday destinations and Meridiana, scheduled carrier with an extensive national and European network, with the primary objective of connecting the main Italian airports with the two largest islands Sardinia and Sicily.

In October 2011 Meridiana Fly also completely acquired the properties of Air Italy, a chartered Italian carrier which definitively joined the group and now operates connections on behalf of Meridiana.

On 16 January 2013 The Board of Directors of Meridiana S.p.A. acknowledged the agreement for the purchase by Meridiana S.p.A. of all the Meridiana fly ordinary shares held by the former shareholders of Air Italy Holding S.r.l. Today the group is run by Meridiana S.p.A. Holding which controls 89% of Meridiana fly including 100% of Air Italy, the remaining part is quoted to the Milan Stock Exchange but a tender offer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tender_offer) has recently launched to delist the company.
The Board of Directors of Meridiana fly named Board Member Roberto Scaramella, who is also the Aviation Director of AKFED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKFED), as the new CEO. A similar resolution has also been passed by the Board of Directors of Air Italy.[

In April 2013, when Air Italy merged was completed, Meridiana Fly changed its brand name, back to the shorter Meridiana.
At mid 2013, Meridiana offered different flights and leisure type destinations: with regard to the national and international short and medium haul scheduled flights, from the main Italian airports, it is possible to reach Sardinia (Olbia, Alghero and Cagliari), Sicily and Naples as well as major holiday destinations in the Mediterranean or in Egypt such as the Canary Islands, Greece and the Red Sea while the main long range destinations, mainly serviced from Milan Malpensa and/or Rome Fiumicino, are the Maldives, Mauritius, Kenya, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Cuba, Santo Domingo and Brazil.

In 2014 the airline is continuing in its brand repositioning plan launching international flights to Moscow DME,London Gatwick, Kiev, Tel Aviv and Nice from Naples and to Bruxelles, Geneva, London LGW, Tel Aviv, Nice,Hamburg, Paris CDG, Moscow DME and Kiev from Olbia; reconfirming its leadership in Sardinia and its focus on Naples, Catania, Milan Linate and Verona airport for domestic italian flights. On May 16 it has been launched the new frequent flyer program called Meridiana Club in partnership with Avios, British Airways and Iberia.

The airports of Olbia - Costa Smeralda, Cagliari, Catania, Naples and Verona with Milan and Rome are the airports of reference in Italy.

Meridiana has a fleet of 27 aircraft consisting of 10 McDonnell Douglas MD82, 7 Airbus A320, 3 Boeing 737-700, 2 Boeing 737-300 WL, 2 Boeing 737-800, 1 Boeing 767-200, 2 Boeing 767-300.


https://www.meridiana.it/Home/Index/en


http://img.planespotters.net/photo/370000/original/EI-IGN-Meridiana-Boeing-737-800_PlanespottersNet_370219.jpg

http://www.alimages.it/report/2008a/lug7/7lug71.jpg

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The Lotus Esprit S1 car chase scenes in the tenth spy film in the James Bond series (The spy who loved me) were shot in Sardinia in 1977, precisely in the Emerald Coast and in the Hunt Cape (in Alghero).

Emerald Coast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2-baX3zs-s

Alghero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-wDd854fvE

[askra]

The song Octopus Garden was written by Ringo Starr during a holiday in Sardinia in 1968.

The idea for the song came when Ringo had temporarily left The Beatles in August 1968. He took his family on a boating holiday in Sardinia. Ringo said, "I wrote Octopus's Garden in Sardinia. Peter Sellers had lent us his yacht and we went out for the day... I stayed out on deck with [the captain] and we talked about octopuses. He told me that they hang out in their caves and they go around the seabed finding shiny stones and tin cans and bottles to put in front of their cave like a garden. I thought this was fabulous, because at the time I just wanted to be under the sea too. A couple of tokes later with the guitar - and we had Octopus's Garden!" It was worked on with George during the Get Back sessions in January 1969. In 1969, George commented, "Octopus's Garden is Ringo's song. It's only the second song Ringo wrote, and it's lovely. Ringo gets bored playing the drums, and at home he plays a bit of piano, but he only knows about three chords. He knows about the same on guitar. I think it's a really great song, because on the surface, it just like a daft kids' song, but the lyrics are great. For me, you know, I find very deep meaning in the lyrics, which Ringo probably doesn't see, but all the thing like 'resting our head on the sea bed' and 'We'll be warm beneath the storm' which is really great, you know. Because it's like this level is a storm, and if you get sort of deep in your consciousness, it's very peaceful. So Ringo's writing his cosmic songs without noticing."




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUFcfXgW_dQ


http://mag.sky.it/static/contentimages/original/sezioni/mag/arts/2012/06/06/00_costa_smeralda_50_anni_di_glamour_ansa_ringo.jp g

[askra]

The scenes on the desert island by Black Stallion, a movie directed by Carroll Ballard and produced by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979 were shot in Sardinia, on the cliffs of Alghero, on the beach of Piscinas, and on the beach of Li Cossi in the Paradise Coast.

the sardinian locations of the movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B3l62rjk34

[askra]

Sardinia boasts centuries of horse breeding and equestrian traditions.

It's the italian region with the highest percentage of people who can ride a horse (29% of the inhabitants).


Today the Island boasts also the highest number of horse herds in Italy.

https://www.regione.sardegna.it/j/v/25?s=152625&v=2&c=394&t=1


http://www.antichemurge.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/airtonn01gr1.jpg
A Sardinian Anglo-Arab horse (the most known horse breed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_breed) established in Sardinia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia))

[askra]

Though the highest peak of the island doesn't reach even 2,000 meters above sea level, Sardinia has four ski resorts located on the Gennargentu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennargentu) Range at Separadorgiu, Monte Spada, S'Arena and Bruncu Spina,


http://www.skiresort.info/ski-resorts/europe/italy/remaining-italy/sardinia/



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzvobgRYvtc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gd-1AGgS7k

[askra]

At the CRS4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRS4) (Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia) was developed the second european website in 1991 (www.crs4.it (http://www.crs4.it)) by a sardinian student called Antonio Ticca that was employed as a trainee.

One of the reasons of this was that in 1991 the president of Crs4 was the nobel prize in physics Carlo Rubbia. who previously worked at the Cern in Geneva, the research center in which few time before was invented the first website in the history.

http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1999/dicembre/28/Soru_incontro_con_Rubbia_cosi_co_0_99122810441.sht ml

[askra]

A team of scientists led by the sardinian researcher Pasqualino Loi from the University of Teramo cloned a european mouflon lamb (called Ombretta) from the cells of two dead mouflons.

The lamb was cloned at the Bonassai Wildlife Refuge Center in Sardinia in 2001.




http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/gnn_images/news_content/10_01/cloned_sheep/sheepclones_article.jpg
The mouflon Ombretta with her surrogate mother (a sheep)









(http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/10/03/380693.htm)http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/10_01/cloned_sheep.shtml
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/10/03/380693.htm
http://www.galileonet.it/articles/4c32e13b5fc52b3adf000a7e
http://www.animalieanimali.it/rubriche/25746_la_nuova_sardegna_br_muflone_clonato_ma_per_ fare_cosa_

[askra]

The Lake omodeo, designed by the engineer Angelo Omodeo, inaugurated in 1924, was for many decades the largest reservoir in Europe. The lake length is 20 km, the surface 29 km2 (11 sq mi) and the water volume is 748,000,000 m3.

A new dam was built in 1997, dedicated to the Sardinian medieval judge Eleonor of Arborea, it is 582 m long and 120 m wide.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6859220295_7342951738_b.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2664/5709867969_4cd0bf03f3_b.jpg

[askra]

The Nuraghè Lò, one of the typical megalithic towers of Sardinia, is considered a holy place by native americans.

Iokenkwaroni (an Iroquois shaman) and her wife Karaya-Nì visited the prehistoric site during a folk festival, they remained fascinated by the site, which is said to emit a supernatural power, they appointed the nuraghe as a place where worship the Great Spirit Manitou.


https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3711/12830564473_1c25239c53_b.jpg
The Nuraghe Lò


http://www.repubblica.it/2007/10/sezioni/spettacoli_e_cultura/halloween-sardo/halloween-sardo/este_30215518_49530.jpg
An Iroquois in pilgrimage in front of the nuraghe

[askra]

The 61% of the Nato military bases in Italy are located in Sardinia, over 35,000 hectares are declared militarized areas. These bases are used for training the italian army, nato and other allied military forces and to test new weapons.

An area of 7,200 square miles off the coasts of Sardinia, almost 2 times the island surface, is in addition permanently or temporary off-limits due to nato naval operations.

[askra]

The Sardinia Radio Telescope (Srt), inaugurated in september 2013, is the second largest, fully steerable single-dish radio telescope in the world (after the Green Bank Radiotelescope in West Virginia, USA) and the first in Europe.

The telescope, originated from a collaboration between National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italian Space Agency (ASI) and Sardinia Autonomous Region, costs approximately 70 million of euros and it is located 40 kilometers from Cagliari, in the Pranu Sanguni (that in southern sardinian language means Bloody Plain, because according to a legend here the dragon was killed by Saint George and its blood dispersed on the land)

The Srt is designed to accommodate several instruments with a frequency coverage from 0.30 GHz to 100 GHz. In addition to the radio astronomy science applications, this instrument will be used for deep space communication missions in conjunction with the Italian Space Agency, European Space Agency and Nasa, as well as for geodynamic studies.

The radio telescope will be used also to search extraterrestrial intelligence, by SETI program by NASA.

According to a conspiracy theory the radio telescope is used by the HAARP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAARP) program, and originated the Cyclone Cleopatra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Cleopatra), which hit Sardinia in november 2013.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdLWqwEXHIc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ImcBfp2f4


https://www.researchitaly.it/en/understanding/press-media/news/inauguration-of-the-biggest-radio-telescope-in-europe/
http://www.focus.it/scienza/spazio/in-sardegna-il-radiotelescopio-piu-grande-d-europa_C12.aspx
http://lanuovasardegna.gelocal.it/cagliari/cronaca/2013/10/01/news/in-sardinia-the-largest-european-radio-telescope-1.7843415

[askra]

According to some researches due to the low birth rate the island will lose 300,000 inhabitants in the next 50 years (about the 20% of the actual population).



Birth rate 8.3 births/1000 inhabitants (If Sardinia was a sovereign country would be second only to Germany according to the OECD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_for_Economic_Cooperation_and_Developm ent) and the World Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank))
Fertility rate 1.07 sons per woman (second only to Macau according to the World Bank).



Sardinia is the italian region with the highest consumption of the contraceptive pill (30,3% of women vs only 16% of the italian average).

Sardinia is the italian region with the highest number of babies born by older mothers (over 40 years old). In Sardinia the percentage is 11 %, while the national average is 8,2%.


http://www.ilciriaco.it/donna/news/?news=7229
http://lanuovasardegna.gelocal.it/sassari/cronaca/2013/11/27/news/istat-in-sardegna-record-di-madri-over-40-1.8192023

[Black Wolf]

Indeed Sardinians are an interesting group of people. They are the closest living people genetically to the early Neolithic farmers of Europe.

[askra]

One of the largest grottoes in the island, houses a large stalactite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalactite)-stalagmite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalagmite) compound, the tallest in Europe and the 4th tallest in the world, measuring 38 m in total.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Grotta_di_ispinigoli.jpg
stalactite-stalagmite in the Ispinigoli Grottos (Dorgali)

http://www.showcaves.com/english/explain/Statistics/Stalagmites.html

[askra]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Flag_of_Tavolara.gif
Flag of the kingdom of Tavolara



The Kingdom of Tavolara was an imaginary state claiming independence in the 19th and 20th centuries in Tavolara Island, off the northeast coast of Sardinia. Set up by the Bertoleoni family, it claimed to be one of the smallest kingdoms in the world.

Giuseppe Bertoleoni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertoleoni) claimed to be its monarch. When he died in the 1840s, his eldest son became "King" Paolo I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertoleoni).

During his reign, in 1861 the Italian government paid 12,000 lire for land at the northeast end of the island to build a lighthouse, which began operating in 1868.

http://percorsidisardegna.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/areamarinaprotetta21.jpg?w=510&h=369
Isle of Tavolara

After Paolo's death in 1886, a number of newspapers published the report that according to his will, the island had become a republic. The New York Times described a government with president and council of six elected every six years by a vote of the people, male and female. Others reported on Tavolara's alleged third presidential election in 1896. These reports, however, did not end the Bertoleoni "kingdom".


The third "king" of Tavolara was Carlo I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertoleoni), who was succeeded upon his death in 1928 by his son "King" Paolo II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertoleoni). Paolo went abroad, however, and left Carlo's sister Mariangela (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertoleoni) as regent in his absence. Mariangela died in 1934, leaving the "kingdom" to Italy.
Her nephew Paolo II still claimed the kingdom, however until his death in 1962. A year that marked the installation of a NATO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO) station on the island.
The present head of the Bertoleoni family (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertoleoni) is Tonino Bertoleoni, who runs "Da Tonino", a restaurant on the island. Politically, the interests of the micronation are represented in its external dealings by "Prince" Ernesto Geremia di Tavolara of La Spezia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Spezia), Italy, who has written a history of the island.
The tomb of Paolo I is in the graveyard on the island, surmounted by a crown.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Bertoleoni_photo.jpg
Photo of the family of Carlo Bertoleoni (self-proclaimed "King of Tavolara", a tiny island in Sardinia), ca. 1890. The Berteleonis were the only inhabitants of the island (and "kingdom"), where they sustained themselves by farming goats and fishing.

http://www.ceramichesarde.it/pagine/rubriche/images/tavolaraimg.jpg
Grave of the 2nd King of Tavolara in the island's cemetery

[askra]

The only colony where cats live on the beach in the world .

Many ethologists are studying the weird behaviour of these cats, which look they don't fear the water and the waves, on the contrary they play on the seashore and observe and try to hunt fishes, shellfish and other aquatic animals.



http://vimeo.com/19264851

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R8q2ArW3y2s/TKxZOSOxmMI/AAAAAAAADak/_KGG6wt5kiM/s1600/IMG_0004.JPG

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/s720x720/386044_196812900406136_935791424_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/391773_207672882653471_565617406_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/s720x720/386246_197175223703237_1227437851_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/375231_216183398469086_899814585_n.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R8q2ArW3y2s/TMSUlpG-CSI/AAAAAAAADgQ/or9ylgKhjc4/s400/IMG_0014.JPG

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R8q2ArW3y2s/TPUyPMBa4OI/AAAAAAAADqw/382QfUEOMQo/s1600/IMG_0027.JPG

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/402853_202300193190740_1018342346_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/s720x720/381538_197386283682131_893031990_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/431080_245398135547612_1943878382_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/417305_337376399683118_163467801_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/381536_208938955860197_664268300_n.jpg

[askra]

Though Sardinia is out from the political influence of the Kingdom of Spain since the 18th century, the Kings of Spain have maintained some title of nobilities related to Sardinia.

Today the King Felipe VI of Spain has been appointed Marquis of Goceano (A sub region of central northern Sardinia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goceano) and Oristano (one of the 7 Sardinian "Royal Towns", that were directly ruled by the emperor of Spain in the past http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oristano).

[askra]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Mistral_wind1.jpg


The mistral (Sardinian: maistràle or bentu maestru) is the dominant wind in Sardinia.

It's a strong, cold and northwesterly wind that blows from north west europe to France into the Gulf of Lion in the northern Mediterranean and towards Sardinia and Corsica.

The Mistral has left indelible signs in the island's landscape. It eroded and modelled the rocks, and deformed the trees which assumed an inclined position towards South-East. In summer this wind can quickly lower the temperatures and strengthens the forest fires.

Coark oaks bent by the mistral in Sardinia:
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7623521618_82f3fe0733_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/3387068351_d165c2d10c_z.jpg?zz=1

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7147847277_19569686ca_b.jpg


Granitic rock formations eroded by the mistral and rain:
http://www.stilesardegna.it/public/images/thb/slide-show/slide-home-page//rettangleO!senza-titolo-58.jpg
http://www.lasardegna.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ferraglione-capo-spartivento.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7002/6531844435_5f0528ec15_z.jpg
http://static.wixstatic.com/media/50e0b7_2c6d472b6eff46658abab5d89f3f5aad.jpg_srz_68 4_579_85_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srz
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/123/399257042_a7f513c0a9_b.jpg

[askra]

On the West Sardinia coasts exist some fossil beaches constituted not by sand but by crystals of quartz. They are so rare that stealing the quartz grains can lead to the arrest.

http://images.fotocommunity.it/foto/macro-e-close-up/altre-macro/la-spiaggia-di-quarzi-di-is-aruttas-12e8c67a-3148-4abb-86e5-14c42f7158d4.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/9078_10151303417932952_988033053_n.jpg

http://www.joyous.com/Travel/Sardinia/images/Sand-screensaver.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/56627459.jpg

[askra]

Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric that is made from the long silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells (in particular Pinna nobilis). The byssus is used by the clam to attach itself to the sea bed.

Sea silk was produced in the Mediterranean region from the large marine bivalve mollusc Pinna nobilis until early in the 20th century, it is still produced today only in the Sant'Antioco Island, in South West Sardinia.

The shell, which is sometimes almost a metre long, adheres itself to rocks with a tuft of very strong thin fibres, pointed end down, in the intertidal zone. These byssus or filaments (which can be up to 6 cm long) are spun and, when treated with lemon juice, turn a golden colour, which never fades.

The cloth produced from these filaments can be woven even finer than silk, and is extremely light and warm; however, it attracts clothes moths, the larvae of which will eat it. It was said that a pair of women's gloves could fit into half a walnut shell and a pair of stockings in a snuffbox. In addition, Pinna nobilis is also sometimes gathered for its flesh (as food) and occasionally has pearls of fair quality.

Pinna nobilis has become threatened with extinction, partly due to overfishing, the decline in seagrass fields, and pollution. As it has declined so dramatically, the once small but vibrant sea silk industry has almost disappeared.

http://www.chiaravigo.com/wordpress/wp-content/gallery/sito/dsc_4002.jpg

http://www.adhikara.com/bisso-marino/bisso-pulito-e-pettinato.jpg

http://www.chiaravigo.com/wordpress/wp-content/gallery/maestria/dscn1623.jpg

http://www.donneuropa.it/media/bisso7.jpg

[askra]

10.97 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants

In Italy the average is 7.9 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

http://www.sanita.ilsole24ore.com/art/regioni-e-aziende/2014-04-16/sardegna-regione-meno-persone-113907.php?uuid=AbD3fgcJ

[askra]

In 2013 the life expentancy was 78.9 years for males and 84.9 for women.

http://www.sanita.ilsole24ore.com/art/regioni-e-aziende/2014-04-16/sardegna-regione-meno-persone-113907.php?uuid=AbD3fgcJ


If Sardinia was a sovereign country would score an age expectancy comparable to that one of Norway and Luxembourg, 17th among 198 nations according to the World Health Organization.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

[askra]

http://www.ansa.it/webimages/foto_large/2011/11/12/ae08d4fe931290f252b7482cefe0a04f.jpg

In Sardinia were consumed 43,000 quintals of snails in 2011. There are 50 companies operating in the sector, plus others 250 micro-companies. 85-90% of snails are imported from abroad.

[askra]

The PISQ (Poligono Sperimentale Interforze del Salto di Quirra) is a restricted weapons testing range and rocket launching site near Perdasdefogu on Sardinia.

It is the largest military range in Italy, composed of 12000 hectares of land owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence, and one of the largest in operation within the European Union and the only operational spaceport in Italy.

The DASS (Distretto Aerospaziale della Sardegna) is a consortium of companies, research centers and universities focused on aerospace industry and research based in Sardinia.


From its very first start, the Salto di Quirra (Sardinia) firing range played a relevant role in Italian space operations. The range belonged to the ITAF Ammunition Research Unit, since 1956 headed by Luigi Broglio whose name had been put forward by Gen. Mario Pezzi. In 1959, the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and ITAF started a research program in the outer atmosphere using rocket-carried probes. In 1961, together with NASA, CNR planned a series of weather experiments releasing clouds of litho-sodium carried in the atmosphere by USA-built Nike-Cajun missiles launched from the Wallops Islands Base (Va) and Salto di Quirra (Italy) range. High altitude atmospheric streams could be measured quite accurately observing contemporarily the litho-sodium clouds from seven ground-stations in Italy (five in Sardinia and one each at Furbara base and Borgo Piave observation post).

The first launch of the series took place on January 12, 1961. A two-stage Nike-Cajun missile released 20 kg of sodium and lithium dust at an altitude of 90 km (270 000 ft). Six launches altogether were accomplished successfully. Broglio and his team set even a record, a triple launch within 24 hours, starting on the morning of January 19 and ending up the evening of the day after. Thanks to media reporting, the world at large was informed of Italian space research activities and that is was operating a missile launching pad. After this exploit, the Salto di Quirra base was involved in many research programs particularly in the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) framework. In 1962 ESRO planned a series of eight launches to study the outer atmosphere and the ionosphere.

These experiments were to be fundamental to build the European Space Agency in the following years: British-built Skylark and French-built Centaure missiles were used for the tests. The high level of both personnel and facilities at Salto di Quirra made it the favourite launching base of ESRO until 1972, following an agreement signed in Paris in 1967 by ESRO's CEO, Pierre Auger.

In 1985 the Avio Company built a vertical structure in Salto di Quirra to test the engines of the European vectors Ariane 3 and Ariane 4 and the Zefiro vector, from its prototype Zefiro 16 to Zefiro 9 down to number 23 in the series.

At Salto di Quirra the second and third stages of Vega were tested thoroughly, the Vega being a new European vector developed and built mostly by Italian firms.


Some pics of the base:

http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2008/10/zefiro_9-a_test_firing/10177825-2-eng-GB/Zefiro_9-A_test_firing.jpg

http://www.informa-azione.info/files/motorVega.jpg
test of the rocket Vega (Advanced Generation European Carrier Rocket) by ESA

http://astronautix.com/nails/a/alfacolr.jpg
the italian Intercontinental ballistic missile Alfa


http://www.ilgiornale.it/sites/default/files/foto/2010/04/12/att_625942
The USV an unmanned spacecraft by the italian space agency

http://www.sat-net.com/serra/photos/skylar0g.jpg
the tests of the Skylark rocket

http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/heritage/John_Raymont_memoirs/sardinia67/Sard67_04_20pc.jpg

[askra]

The main training base by the italian intelligence during the Cold War was located in Sardinia, south of Alghero, next to Poglina's beach.

In the base was placed the "stay-behind" paramilitary organization Gladio, with the official aim of countering a possible Soviet invasion through sabotage and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.

Its clandestine "cells" were to stay behind (hence the name) in enemy-controlled territory and to act as resistance movements, conducting sabotage, guerrilla warfare and assassinations.

This organization remained secret till the end of the Cold War. The name Gladio is the Italian form of gladius, a type of Roman shortsword.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/Gladio.png
Emblem of "Gladio", Italian branch of the NATO "stay-behind" paramilitary organizations. The motto, "Silendo Libertatem Servo", means "In being silent, I save freedom".

http://i.imgur.com/Wf1qxVl.png
Capo Marrargiu Base (on the right a field that should be used as a runway to deploy quickly the gladio's cells on the invaded territories by the Red Army)

[askra]

Vento di Sardegna (en: Wind of Sardinia)is a sailboat sponsorized by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. It's crew won many trasnsoceanic regattas such as the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race in 2013 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-Handed_Trans-Atlantic_Race), the Two Handed Transatlantic Race (Twostar) regatta in 2012 and the Route du Rhum in 2010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_du_Rhum).

http://www.felciyachts.com/uploads/VDS-1-SITO.jpg

http://www.tienneti.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/vento-di-sardegna-andrea-mura.jpg

http://www.ventodisardegna.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Mura_QuebecStMalo.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERQMeWCzxxM

[askra]

Annually the island hosts some of the world most important regattas like the Loro Piana Super Yacht Regatta and the Maxy Yacht Rolex Cup. Part of the Louis Vuitton Trophy was held in the Maddalena archipelago in 2010.
The caital Cagliari hosts regular international regattas, such RC44 championship, Farr 40 World championship and Audi MedCup; all series which boast current America's Cup contenders like BMW Oracle Racing, Mascalzone Latino and Emirates Team New Zealand as contenders.

Maxy Yacht Rolex Cup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC-z5TiGH1c

Loro Piana Super Yacht Regatta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5634TVhOm4

[askra]

The Sciulara bay in Palau, in the north east of Sardinia is also known as Nelson Bay because it housed the fleet of the british Admiral Horatio Nelson in 1803 and 1805 at the times of the Napoleonic Wars when the Kingdom of Sardinia was allied with the United Kingdom against Napoleon.

The Nelson Bay, The town of Palau in the background and the village of Porto Rafael on the right
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/33017104.jpg

Horatio Nelson gifted some silver candlesticks and a crucifix to the church located on the Maddalena Island, today they are exhibited at the diocesan museum.
http://www.lamaddalena.info/images/candelierior01.jpg

[askra]

Supermag and Geomag is the brand name of a toy construction system created in 1998, consisting primarily of nickel-plated steel balls (spheres) (0.50",12.7mm in diam) and short connecting sticks (27mm) with a magnet on each end (rods). With these two basic elements, a huge number of geometric shapes and structures can be built. Adding panels helps to form rigid structures. Geomag can be used also to make experiments with magnetism and moving structures.

Supermag was invented by Edoardo Tusacciu, founder of Plastwood a company located in Calangianus, Sardinia in 1998.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/253/514552837_fca989ef07_o.jpg
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https://images.otto.de/asset/mmo/formatz/plastwood-supermag-ultra-bike-10027550.jpg

[askra]

Communal lands played an important role in the history of Sardinia. The existence of a collective system of land management is particular to Sardinia, and no similar system has been observed in others areas of the Mediterranean.

This system, called Ademprivio (from the latin ademprivia), presents a strong analogy with other institutions that were once widespread throughout Europe and remained, especially in areas where forestry activities and those related to breeding had a preponderance to agriculture itself.

In the Alps there were such rules or Ampezzo Cadore. In the eighteenth century in England with the Enclosures and the rest of Europe in the nineteenth century was the common tendency to turn these collective properties in Freehold: there was a strong push of the bourgeois world to want to transform the agricultural activities in a more entrepreneurial, seeing the traditional institutions as an obstacle to the emergence of a modern agriculture.

This institution that still exists in Sardinia, guaranteed for centuries the survival of the poorest members of a village population. It enabled villagers, shepherds and farmers of a village to pasture their sheep and other animals and forage for acorns, firewood, and plants on communal land.

Because even the poorest villagers had access to this communal land, and most people within the communities worked either as shepherds or farmers, very little social stratification developed over time. This still exists in the villages today. Furthermore, a sense of symbiosis and community, derived from the use of the land, blossomed within the culture. With a dependence on shared resources, everyone had to work together for survival.

The 28% of the territory of the province of Ogliastra is today still part of communal lands.

[askra]

The Carta de Logu was a constitutional law and a legal code promulgated by the iudex Marianus IV (the iudex were the rulers of the Giudicati, independent medieval sardinian states) in the 14th century, and it was improved by his successor, the iudex Eleanor of Arborea, that made the code one of the best of the its epoch, perfectly suited for the citizens of Sardinia. It was in force in Sardinia until it was superseded by the code of Charles Felix in April 1827.


The Carta De Logu stands out for its organic, coherent and methodical coverage of the legal order; the code itself is made up of 198 articles and, covering civil and penal law, plus some areas identified by several jurists as “primitive” precepts of constitutional law.

http://www.lamiasardegna.it/images/storia-aragonesi/mariano_IV.jpg
Marianus IV of Arborea


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vFc1zSG1doo/UEkNxLEoEMI/AAAAAAAAGhQ/O8FAuWyBbeI/s320/Eleonora_Carta_de_logu_1.jpg
Eleanor of arborea holding the Carta de Logu


This legal code was also intended as a collation of the most important laws(customs and edicts) used in the Giudicato before its advent.
Due to the economic nature of the Giudicato, a good portion of the norms deals with “rural problems”, especially the conflicts between farmers and cattlemen(e.g. protecting fenced-in cultivated areas from bovines and other large-sized animals).

The Carta De Logo regulates a great number of types of offence, mayor(lese-majesty, treason ,murder…) and minor ones(theft ,injuries, adultery…) alike, dictating punishments considered extremely harsh and cruel by the modern eye; detention was not considered a punishment in itself, but was applied as a precautionary measures or as an ancillary penalty(like in the case of a failure to pay the compensation).


Fines were usually applied for lesser wrongs(e.g. fifty lire in case of blasphemy), but leading to corpolar punishments(comprising blinding and mutilation) if the monetary sanction was ignored; this situation could even lead to a death sentence, carried out by hanging, decapitation or death by burning.
The introduction of fines had a positive impact in the rural and economically isolated communities of the Giudicato of Arborea, since it helped the development of new trading routes and strengthened the contacts with the central administration.

The Carta De Logu also introduced a series of extremely innovative legal precepts. Women were allowed to obtain a portion of their husband’s revenues, creating a sort of de facto protection of the wife in case of widowhood.

Other articles contains fire prevention rules and regulations to safeguard local wildlife.

Another innovative, almost revolutionary principle introduce the equality before the law.

Moreover, the code issued by Eleanor offered for the first time a legal system cognizable by the whole population(it was written in Sardinian instead of Latin).


For all these reason, the Carta De Logu is considered one of the best legal codes of the Medieval period, inferior only to the Liber Augustalis promulgated by the Emperor Frederick II.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Pag1_carta_delogu.jpg
First page of the Charta de Logu

http://imageshack.us/a/img195/2706/cartadelogudefoghu.jpg

[askra]

A condaghe (also condaxi or fundaghe), from the medieval Sardinian kondake (from Byzantine Greek κοντάκιον, kontákion, "the pole around which a scroll is wound"), was an administrative document in use in Sardinia between the 11th and 13th centuries.

They are one of the earliest witnesses for the development of the Sardinian language and are an important source for historians of medieval Sardinia.

The original condaghes were collections of acts of donations to churches or monasteries. Later condaghes were kept by noble families for recording inheritances, purchases, donations (datura), transactions (tramutu) and litigation (kertu), principally when relating to the church. The chief object of such records was to provide precise dates in case of legal dispute.

Physically, the first condaghes were scrolls: overlapping parchment manuscripts wound tightly around a kontákion. Over time they took on the familiar form of a codex (like modern books).

They were produced in the scriptoria of monasteries and cathedrals, but the great majority have been lost. Only the condaghes of the monasteries of Santa Maria di Bonarcado, San Michele di Salvennor, San Nicola di Trullas and San Pietro in Silki and of the Basilica of San Gavino are preserved from among the ecclesiastical kind. There is only one surviving lay condaghe, that of Judge Barisone II of Logudoro.

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2812/11293622555_8ba4a6a058_h.jpg
Condaghe of Silki written in Sardinian language in the 11th century

[askra]

http://everydayeconomies.net/sites/default/files/u62/2-euro-sardegna-2.jpg


The Sardex is a currency used as an alternative to the Euro in Sardinia.

Recent economic crisis have created rifts in western societies, which are now obliged to redefine old economic practices and, in the same time, to design new ones. Relationships between people and money are not exempt from this upheaval, good or bad. Many new forms of money are developing and emerging from economic crises. The Sardex is one of them.

The Sardex scheme was created in Sardinia in 2006 as a start-up by Giuseppe Littera, Gabriele Littera and Carlo Mancosu, three young and unemployed graduates (oddly not in economics). It is no coincidence that they were inspired by the Wir, an alternative currency created in Switzerland after the crisis of ’29.

Born as a little firm, in June 2012, there were more then one million Sardex in circulation, and this number is growing very fast. Each Sardex is worth one Euro. Almost 800 firms participate in the Sardex programme.

This money aims to improve local commerce which have been struggling because of both global, local and national economic problems.

The Sardex is a monetary network that connects various businesses – at the moment it is trying to open to private citizens - helping them to exchange services and products without using Euros or other state currencies, and outside the limits of barter. The network lends Sardex credits to firms as bank credit, but with no interest.

Creditors have to solve their debts within twelve months from the loan. Thus far, all firms that have used Sardex credits to manage cash flow problems have resolved their debts with the Sardex scheme. If a firm is in financial trouble, other firms may offer assistance buying their products or services. As an extrema ratio the firm could pay debts using the Euro.

Up to now, all the firms have solved their debts using only Sardex credits. So this market is “euroless” and no actors should gain more money then they received. The Sardex scheme is a complementary market because its aim is to extend firms’ business. It doesn’t work inside the ordinary market but, as a small network, it partially depends upon it. The firms, which want to join the network, have to pay a registration fee and an annual subscription in Euro.

The Sardex is a hybrid form of money: it is an e-money and it is a local money used only in Sardinia.


Unlike the Euro, Sardex credits have a very specific function: supporting local businesses in Sardinia. Sardex credits are money because people believe in them and because people have trust in the Sardex system. That's an easy answer but as a sociologists we should want more. The president of the project, Gabriele Littera, thinks that the strength and the reason of the success of Sardex lies in people’s confidence in the network : “We don’t have an algorithm, just relations, our brokers try to help who is in trouble suggesting them new businesses. Technology is an aid.” He underlines the communitarian aspects of the Sardex but we said that trust is not a sufficient explanation. We must also take into consideration the technologies that permit the circulation of this form of money. Sardex credits are not just a simple instrument. They are part of a socio-technical and economic system. Indeed, if we disconnected the servers that manage Sardex transactions, it would be the end for the project.

The first issue is preventing opportunistic behaviours that could undermine trust. The use of Internet mainly solves the problem because every transaction is public and nobody can operate anonymously. Transparency is useful also for the public finance because tax evasion is impossible inside Sardex scheme. Furthermore, the web can produce a sort of community memory: the Sardex, unlike currencies, doesn’t have juridical and legal bodies that prevent and punish bad behaviours. It needs a high level of transparency for the transactions and only a proper use of Internet can offer this service. The second problem concerns what goods the network can offer. It has to be balanced and adequately extended otherwise the deficits would render the network’s participation unprofitable. Again a proper use of the technological support solves the problem. The web allows a constant exchange of information among the users and, in the same time, the brokers who manage the network could work on the basket of goods. The supply of services and products is public and brokers can pinpoint every deficit. Trust is not inspired only by the group identity –being Sardinian- or by the relation with the brokers but it is produced also by the technology that transmits fundamental information. Networked technologies are not only an instrument. They are an important part of this kind of money. There is a relationship of agency between all the actors involved in the network and the technological infrastructure. Citing Keith Hart: “Then money could take a variety of forms compatible with both personal agency and human interdependence at every level from the local to the global.” We already know that technological impact is very important in modern financial markets, for example we can think about the hedge funds and their powerful servers. But what I would like to propose in this brief reflection is that the technological development must be taken into consideration even when the research field regards small monetary networks and even where the group identity seems to be the most important element. Not infrequently the opposition between community and global society, barter and financial trade are based on the same infrastructures.

[askra]

In Sardinia survives one of the last hippie communes in Europe. It was founded in 1971 in Cala Grande, a small coastal area on the promontory of Capo Testa in Santa Teresa Gallura, in the North of the island. It’s formed by seven valleys divided by huge granite hills, dotted by many caves, some of them inhabited.

The valley now is frequented by alternative people, hippies, rastas, punks, backpackers, etc.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/4307322.jpg

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/129/350974319_b711667b8f_b.jpg

[askra]

http://www.studiolum.com/wang/lepanto/Galera_real.jpg
Replica of the ship Reàl at the Barcelona's Maritime Museum



The Tercio de Cerdeña was a military unit based in Sardinia, headquartered in Cagliari, Sassari and Tempio, founded in 1536 by the Emperor Charles I . It was constituted by 1,728 arquebusiers and pikemen.

The soldiers of the Tercio de Cerdeña were chosen by John of Austria as personal guards and 400 of them were embarked during the Battle of Lepanto on the galley "Reàl", where they boarded and sank the Ottoman flagship.

The banner of the ship Reàl is today preserved in the San Domenico Church in Cagliari, Sardinia.

[askra]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/396462_429466077089030_1296494375_n.jpg
workers on strike in Buggerru in 1904


The 9/4/1904 in the village of Buggerru the working class, constituted mainly by miners, striked for the 1st time in Italy.
Some days later italians from the continent followed the protest started in Sardinia, organizing the 1st general strike in the history of Italy.

[askra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lox5pevv1SQ

Sardinia hosted a large number of refugees from the yugoslavian territories lost by Italy during the WWII.
These peoples moved mainly in the North West of Sardinia, in the town of Fertilia and the plain of Nurra.
In these areas is still spoken the istriot and the dalmatian by elderly and by some of their descendants.

[askra]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Domenico_Millelire.jpg


The navy official Domenico Millelire (pseudonym of Domenico Leoni) is historically recognised to be the 1st person to be decorated with a Gold Medal of Military Valour in Italy.

In February 23, 1793, Domenico Millelire, in command of the Sardinian fleet, defeated near the Maddalena archipelago the fleets of the French Republic, which was included with the rank of lieutenant, the young and future Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte.

He was subsequently decorated as recompense with the gold medal of the Reign of Sardinia and a life annuity of 300 Lire.


http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Millelire
http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/1793/c_maddalena.html

[askra]

Sardinia Bay is a coastal location in Port Elisabeth, South Africa.


http://photopaige.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/img_2524.jpg

https://www.google.it/maps/place/Sardinia+Bay+Link+Rd,+Port+Elizabeth+6070,+Sudafri ca/@-34.01376,25.49786,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x1e7acfde328df6d5:0x18ae9 86724ced1a6

[askra]

Boom! is a 1968 drama film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noël Coward, directed by Joseph Losey, completely shot in Sardinia, mainly in Alghero, on the promontory of Capo Caccia.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrlmAKKEIlg

http://popcultureandfeelings.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/boom-1968-elizabeth-taylor-16x9-widescreen-290d1.jpg

http://jabootu.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/boom-elizabeth-taylor-noel-coward-600x524.png

[askra]

A Blue Zone is a concept used to identify a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives.

The concept grew out of demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, who identified for the first time Sardinia as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians in the world.

As the two men zeroed in on the cluster of villages with the highest longevity, they drew concentric blue circles on the map and began referring to the area inside the circle as the Blue Zone. Dan Buettner identifies longevity hotspots in Okinawa (Japan); Sardinia (Italy); Nicoya (Costa Rica); Icaria (Greece);and among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, and offers an explanation, based on empirical data and first hand observations, as to why these populations live healthier and longer lives.

The people inhabiting Blue Zones share common lifestyle characteristics that contribute to their longevity:

Less smoking
Semi-vegetarianism – except for the Sardinian diet, the majority of food consumed is derived from plants
Empowered women
Constant moderate physical activity – an inseparable part of life
Family – put ahead of other concerns
Social engagement – people of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities
Legumes – commonly consumed



The Venn diagram highlights the following six shared characteristics among the people of Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda Blue Zones:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Vendiagram.gif

[Mens-Sarda]

Italian journalists misspelling Sardinian surnames and place names

This is a world constant like death and taxes :laugh:

When an Italian journalist reads a Sardinian surname or place name, 90% of times he misspells the accents, maybe the Italians don't notice this, but Sardinians do it and sometimes for us because of the wrong accents it's also hard to understand what they are talking of

here is some example of place names with wrong and correct pronounce :

Nuòro - Nùoro
Màcomer - Macomèr
Banàri - Bànari
Ittìri - Ìttiri
Usìni - Ùsini
Sedìni - Sèdini
Bonnannàro - Bonnànnaro
Cheremùle - Cherèmule
Sadàli - Sàdali
Oschìri - Òschiri
Arzàna - Àrzana
the last one, heard today on the news, a surname, Càsula instead of Casùla :picard2:

[askra]

In 2014 members of sardinian independentist parties for the 1st time in the history were admitted at the regional parliament and even at the regional government after their victory at the regional elections.


http://lanuovasardegna.gelocal.it/polopoly_fs/1.8694377!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_660/image.jpg

[askra]

Sardinia is the only region in italy where is produced a surplus of electric power, and also the only one which exports energy abroad, to Corsica and also to the italian peninsula, by means of submarine cables .

Sardinia is also the italian region with the highest electric power consumption per capita (1,199.6 kilowatt per hour per person).

However it's also the italian region with the highest energetic costs (38% higher costs than the national average).


http://notizie.tiscali.it/regioni/sardegna/articoli/13/07/07/consumo_energia.html
http://gruppodinterventogiuridicoweb.com/2013/05/17/in-sardegna-lenergia-elettrica-costa-il-38-in-piu-che-nel-resto-ditalia/

[askra]

http://www.biographyonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Christopher_Columbus2.jpg

A Spanish historian, called Marisa Azuara, has recently hypothesized that Columbus could be a Sardinian noble from the town of Sanluri, called Christòval Colòn: she claimed that he was son of Salvatore of Siena and Alagon and Isabella Alagon of Arborea, related with the Pope Pius II. At the time of his birth, the island of Sardinia was partially under Genoese economic and political rule, until it was conquered at the end of 15th century by the Kingdom of Aragon. Christòval Colòn would be born in 1436 and he spent his youth studying nautical science, and he spoke both Italian and Spanish.

[Virtuous]

http://notizie.tiscali.it/regioni/media/13/11/gregge.jpg_415368877.jpg :D

Sardinia is home to nearly 4 million sheep, almost half of the entire Italian assets and that makes the island one of the areas of the world with the highest density of sheep along with some parts of UK and New Zealand (135 sheep every square kilometer versus 129 in UK and 116 in New Zealand).

Uthred should read this. He gon love it.

[askra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9IE9bqHAW4

The city of Oristano in Sardinia boasted the highest concentration of beat groups in Italy in the 1960's (1 beat group per 1,300 inhabitants vs a national average of 1 per 100,000).

Some groups used the sardinian language in their songs too.

[askra]

http://i.imgur.com/mB1lKG8.jpg

The e-Intensity Index measures the relative maturity of Internet economies on the basis of three factors: enablement, engagement, and expenditure.

Enablement accounts for 50 percent of the total weighting and measures various aspects of fixed and mobile infrastructure deployment.
Engagement, 25 percent, measures how actively businesses, governments, and consumers are embracing the Internet.
Expenditure, 25 percent, measures the proportion of money spent on online retail and advertising.

[askra]

The Paeonia of Gennargentu is a species of Wild Peony (Paeonia mascula) native of Sardinia. A herbaceous perennial plant 0.5–1.5 metres tall, the Wild Peony has leaves which are divided into three segments and large red flowers in late spring and early summer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooUlNDmDlNM#t=136

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/La_peonia_del_Gennargentu.jpg

http://www.gianfrancoguria.it/Peonie/DSC_5839.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3911/14907060595_ce3c4218c7_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6701925575_a9a093dc1b_b.jpg

[askra]

....

[askra]

The Barbagia is the most interior and mountainous region of Sardinia, it was called Barbarìa by the ancient romans, it means land of the barbarians.

It's problably the only region located in the Mediterranean Sea tha wasn't conquered by the romans.

The name comes from Cicero, who described it as a land of barbarians. This word derives from the Greek Βάρβαρος-ου, which means stuttering. The inhabitants were also known, by the ancient Romans, with the pejorative term latrones mastrucati, which means "thieves with a rough garment in wool".

The Pope Gregory I, in 594 AD, described the Barbagia's people (that was pagan) as "irrational animals, ignorant of the truth of God and worshiping wood and stone."

The inhabitants of this mountain region call themselves Barbaricini still today, that means Barbarians.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Sardegna_Barbaria.png/622px-Sardegna_Barbaria.png

[askra]

The Femina Accabadora is the title given to a mature woman who was appointed by a community to apply euthanasia to the old and the infirm in Sardinia.

It is something she would carry out with the utmost precision using a cudgel made from a section of a tree branch from which extends another branch, the whole thing cut to form a hammer-like weapon similar in appearance to the Irish shillelagh stick.

Another means of inducing death used by the accabadora was strangulation, either by applying pressure to the neck or by placing the victim's neck between her knees.

The word accabadora, comes from the spanish word " Acabar" that means "to end".

There would only ever be one accabadora in any one generation. Each would serve the local community until their own death, a successor having already been appointed and prepared for the role. Justification for the existence of the accabadora was offered in the fact that only a woman can bring life into the world, so only a woman can take it away.

The accabadora is portrayed as a mature woman dressed in black with a cowl-like shawl covering her head. One can imagine her approaching the house of a victim, her cudgel doubling as a walking stick. It is a sinister and very powerful image, and one made even the more haunting by the fact that this tradition is thought to have continued among some Sardinian communities until the 1940s.

The accabadora would also attempt to induce death in a dying person by encouraging the soul to depart from the mortal body. In order to achieve this she would remove all objects of religious and personal significance from the room in which the person lay awaiting death. This supposedly enabled the spirit to more easily break free of its earthly bonds. Additionally, a strange device like a miniature farm yoke, with hooks at each end, was placed beneath the person's pillow, although for what purpose I have yet to ascertain.

When the femina acabadora practised the euthanasia the christian objects, such as the holy pictures and the crucifixes, were hidden or covered by black drapes in the room of the moribund. In this way there wasn't the respect for religious dogma, and the woman could stop the pains of the dying person, without the risk to commit a sin, or be accused to be a murderer.

Only to women were allowed practise euthanasia, due to the fact Sardinia was a traditionally matriarchal society.

http://follelfo.it/storie_fiabe_miti_e_leggende/sa%20femina%20agabbadora/martello.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KkSb47RNvlE/TzgD6N0Qj_I/AAAAAAAADdY/c2vogE4Wm5s/s1600/accabadora+martello.JPG
Original hammers with which the feminas accabadoras practised the euthanasia

[askra]

The first tale to have the protagonist named Cinderella is Giambattista Basile’s “Cat Cinderella,” written in 1634.

Part of the tale is set in Sardinia
"Before Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, Basile penned the first modern literary transcription of the Cinderella fairytale. It is the story of Zezolla, the daughter of an Italian Prince, who is betrayed by her governess and forced to live the life of a servant - that is until the King announces a feast. With assistance from a date tree given to her by the Fairies of Sardinia, Zezolla is able to attend the feast and her life is forever changed. "

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81U1UXLz2KL._SL1500_.jpg

[askra]

1. Prehistoric temple of Monte d'Accoddi (2,700 B.C.)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2164/2178059143_a20d693575_b.jpg
http://www.utaot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/481362_3774778939845_2072483199_n.jpg

2. Nuraghe Santu Antine (1,800 B.C.)

http://www.lacortedilucina.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/pac.jpg

3. Nuragic Castle of Su Nuraxi (1,500 B.C.)
http://www.provincia.mediocampidano.it/resources/cms/images/20090604_SFD_Barumini_Su_Nuraxi_R2_d0.JPG

http://topcinque.com/viaggi/le-5-costruzioni-piu-antiche-italia/

[askra]

The great grandfather of Beji Caid Essebsi, the new president elected in Tunisia, leader of the secular party Nidaa Tounes was a sardinian kidnapped by the tunisian pirates along the coasts of the island at the beginning of the XIX century, becoming a mamluk (white slave) who was raised with the ruling family of Tunisia and later was recognized as a free man and became an important member of the government.



http://www.leaders.com.tn/uploads/content/media/20130626202622__beji-caid-essebsi.jpg

[askra]

Analysis based on iHappy based on million tweets collected daily from Italy’s 110 provinces reveals that Italy’s happiness capital and province was Cagliari (Sardinia). The sardinian capital’s province topped the rankings with 67.4% of its tweets classified as happy.

Ten first happiest provinces:

1) Cagliari 67.4%.
2) Lecce 67.0%.
3) Genova 67.0%.
4) Parma 65.9%.
5) Brindisi 65.8%.
6) La Spezia 65.4%.
7) Bari 65.2%.
8) Ogliastra 65.1%.
9) Perugia 65.0%.
10) Lucca 64.9%

http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2015/03/17/1227266/840694-ceee4bbe-cc3a-11e4-a028-65bfa3bc1db2.jpg
Cagliari (Sardinia)

[askra]

Sa die de Sardigna (the day of Sardinia) is celebrated on April 28, to commemorate the uprising of the revolutionary movements against the Piedmontese viceroy Balbiano, for political and economic reasons, which occurred in 1794. Balbiano and other Savoy officials were forced to leave Sardinia or executed, bringing centuries of feudalism at the end.

This celebration has become the “National Day of the Sardinian people”.

For the occasion, the schools remain closed and in major cities several events, related to the holiday, are organized.

For example in Cagliari, a historical representation is staged and a formal sitting of the Regional Council is held.

On the island take part historical conventions, debates, concerts, folk performances and much more on April 28, to celebrate the 1794 Sardinian revolution.

http://www.sartiglia.info/sites/default/files/notizie/immagini/Sa_Die_de_sa_Sardigna_-_locandina_oristano_0.jpg
http://sardegnainblog.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sa-die-de-sa-sardigna-2015-720x400.jpg
http://www.ilminuto.info/wp-content/uploads/sa-die-de-sa-patria-sarda.jpghttp://www.formaparis.com/sites/default/files/blog/immagini/Manifestazioni/Dorgali%20-%20sa%20die%20sardigna%202012.jpghttp://www.sardegnacultura.it/immagini/7_112_20090427091243.jpg