Italian Sideways 2006 – Day 15
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The sky is gray and, according to the weather report, we're going to have rain today. We pack our usual picnic and, after breakfast, head south to Nuoro for an inland tour of the Goceano area, described by the magazine Bell'Italia (Beautiful Italy) as a land of "hot springs, horses, carpets and prehistory."
It starts raining lightly before noon, but we continue south on the four-lane highway almost completely devoid of traffic, while listening to the radio describe the heavy traffic expected on the mainland, as today is the last day of the long Easter weekend for most Italian working people.
Just south of Nuoro we leave the Strada Statale (State Road) and head for Benetutti (Everybody's Well), so called, the legend says, because, thanks to the happy location of the village, in ancient times the inhabitants were all in better health than in the surrounding areas.
Next we go to the Terme di San Saturnino (Saint Little Saturn Hot Springs), which are right across the street from a small ancient Romanic church, on a small fenced-in hill with a flock of sheep, happily eating the grass away in the light rain. The hot springs are closed, but we have a pecorino cheese, tomato and rucola sandwich washed down by fruit juice in the car watching the ancient church.
Now satisfied, we continue to the historic mountain village of Burgos, with the ruins of its invincible 11th century fortress perched atop a steep high hill. Luckily the rain has stopped and the narrow alleys of the village of Burgos offer an amazing amount of murals at every turn of a corner. We park and climb the recently reconstructed cobblestone street to the fortress, from which yard the view of the surrounding valley is breathtaking. We can imagine the enemies' armies looking up at the fortress, at the time surrounded by three concentric high defense walls at various altitudes, and turning around deciding to find another enemy to fight.
From there we head to the Burgos Forest, famous for as the breeding center of a type of British-Sardinian-Arab of horses, of which we see some mares and colts in open fields.
Next we head to the necropolis of St. Andrea Priu, known also as 'Domus de Janas' (House of the Fairies, or House of the Witches in Sardinian dialect). The extensive archeological site includes over 60 Domus de Janas, which are prehistoric tombs dating back to 3,700 BC.
The so-called Tomba del Capo (Chief's Tomb) is a three-room cave with side tombs where male, female and children's bodies were interred in fetal position. On the floor there are holes of various sizes where food offerings were left for the dead.
The Tomba del Capo is particularly interesting because it was reutilized in different historic periods. During the Roman occupation of the island, the place was transformed into a family tomb by a noble family, as attested by remains of decorative floral frescoes and a detail depicting a noblewoman who was buried here. Later, the place was transformed in a church, opening one of the lateral tombs to make space for the altar, as well as digging an opening in the ceiling of the third room to let the light in. From this period there are frescoes covering the more ancient Roman ones.
On our way back to the Strada Statale we stop near the ghost town of Berchiddu and take some pictures of the small country Romanic church of San Lorenzo.
Back home, we go to the Ristorante Lu Impostu, facing the beach with the same name, where we feast on antipasto (hors d'oeuvre) of moscardini (tiny octopi) in sauce, mixed green salad, mixed seafood grill and spigola (sea bass) simmered in Vernaccia wine. We wash down everything with Depperu's Ruinas Vermentino di Gallura DOCG, which registers a respectable 14.5% alcohol. It is delicious, though it truly opened up on the third glass, about an half hour after being open. I personally prefer the more delicate, perfumed Vermentinos with lower alcohol content, such as La Pagliastra from Cantina Vitivinicola Romangia di Sorso e Sennori, Costamolinos from Cantina Argiolas and Funtanaliras Vermentino di Gallura DOCG, made by the Cantina del Vermentino in Monti.
The dessert is Crema Catalana (Cream Catuniua-Style), which we pair with the usual local red Mirto liqueur.
We drive home under the pouring rain and go to bed for our last night on the island.
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