2024-06-24 17:50:06
The very best-known Sardinia is the worldly and incomparable one of many Costa Smeralda. Nonetheless, the pure (and cultural) wonders of that island continent can be found in every single place. What in regards to the wild western coast? Particularly these of the spectacular and at all times little-known west of Alghero. These are the wild coasts which for a lot of months of the yr are lashed by the icy mistral winds which have at all times made navigation problematic. In that sea the place hoisting a sail is at all times an excellent feat, nature remains to be the acquitted grasp right now. She nearly did not need to be disturbed in order that she might reveal all her “secret” appeal to anybody who will get there.
Proper behind the imposing cliffs that fall vertically between Capo Caccia and Cala Inferno (a really applicable identify to underline the imperviousness of the coast), a physique of water opens up which, due to its at all times “flat” floor, has assured for hundreds of years a secure and peaceable touchdown place. Greater than a stretch of sea it looks as if a serene lake. It’s the bay of Capo Conte.
In actuality it is among the most “hidden” (and exquisite) corners of the entire of Sardinia. A protected space included for a while in an fascinating widespread ecomuseum mission. A spot that has at all times been well-liked, additionally contemplating the presence on its shores of two complexes courting again to the Nuragic age: Palmavera and Sant’Imbenia, even earlier than the traditional Romans who, profiting from an at all times calm sea, established a really busy port which assured, to the numerous daredevil sailors of the time, a secure haven. A outstanding advanced whose stays bear witness to a flourishing period of commerce. That space (now reworked right into a small jewel ignored by guests dazzled solely by the overwhelming and wild great thing about Sardinia’s seashores) is entrusted to the fervour of a singular character: Andrea Canu. He’s the custodian who, passionately caring for that nook of paradise, spends his life there.
In Sant’Imbenia, along with the stays of a touchdown place courting again to the first and 2nd century BC, these of a preferred emporium are nonetheless clearly seen, in addition to proof of a refined villa full with mosaics and stuccos. Additionally unmissable are the spas which, in an atmosphere of distinctive magnificence, assured moments of relaxation and refreshment. The touchdown place of the Roman villa of Sant’Imbenia has – as Andrea Canu recollects – origins that date again to the Center Bronze Age, over a thousand years earlier than Christ. So 3 thousand years in the past when it was a middle of commerce and sorting of merchandise that flowed there from the close by silver mines of Argentiera and copper mines of Calabona. Porto Conte was actually energetic for hundreds of years, a lot in order that indicators of not solely Nuragic-Phoenician, but in addition Greek earlier than Roman presence have been discovered. It was, actually, a place to begin for routes that led to the coasts of North Africa and which reached Spain so far as Cadiz. The fantastic thing about Sant’Imbenia is just not solely linked to its rediscovered historical mercantile function, however to the whole atmosphere that surrounds it. From the overhanging (and really photogenic) partitions overlooking the ocean of Capo Caccia, to the imposing and uncontaminated great thing about Cala Inferno, to the shocking Grotta di Nettuno which could be reached by descending 654 steps between overhanging rocks which then should be climbed up once more not with out a sure satisfying effort , to the testimonies of newer historical-social occasions resembling that unhappy former penal colony of Tramariglio (now renamed with the extra reassuring toponym of Casa Gioisa) energetic till after the Second World Warfare. And once more: the Aragonese tower of Porto Conte, now a museum, which reveals the intimate and secret relationship between close by Alghero and the French writer-aviator Antoine De Sainte Exupery, the one from “The Little Prince”, who spent unforgettable days in these locations .
2024-06-24 17:50:06