The Biddio of the World
Sardinia
Sardinia in the Catalan Atlas
Majorca, 1375 (Abraham Cresques)
Sardinia
from above
Photo: NASA Earth Observatory
Braudel on Sardinia
• “It was too lost in the sea to play an important
role, too far from the enriching contacts that
linked Sicily, for example, with Italy and Africa.
Mountainous, excessively divided, a prisoner of
its poverty, it was a self-contained world with its
own language, customs, archaic economy, and
pervasive pastoralism - in some regions remaining
as Rome must have found it long ago.” (p. 150)
Sardinia: The Biddio of the World
1. Sardinia and the longue durée
2. “Structures” of Sardinia
3. Islands and their Worlds
1. Sardinia and the longue durée
Sardinia, Supramonte
Sardinia
“Eternal” Elements of Sardinia
• Isolation
• Pastoralism
• Language
• Diet
• Religious traditions
Pastoralism
Transhumant Shepherds’ Orri
in the Pyrenees
Cuile Porta Sos Mufrones
(Supramonte of Urzulei)
Cuile Buchi Arta Berritta
(Supramonte of Dorgali)
Cuile Serra Lada
(Supramonte of Oliena)
Shepherds in a Cuile (1963-64)
Nuraghic village of Tiscali
Nuraghic Village of Tiscali
Padre, Padrone
• 1977
• The harsh life of
Gavino Ledda, a
Sardinian shepherd-
turned writer
• Directed by Paolo
and Vittorio Taviani
Fabrizio de André
• 1940-1999
• Kidnapped in 1979
• Held for 4 months in
the Supramonte
• “Hotel
Supramonte” (1981)
Music of Sardinia
• Cantu a Tenores
• Tenores di Bitti
• a cappella
• Ancient shepherding tradition (c.
3,000 years old)
• Sounds based on nature
• 11/25/05: Cantu a Tenores
declared a “Masterpiece of the
Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity” by UNESCO
Cara cantu ses bella Su Puddhu
Dillu
Sardinia
• 9,301 sq. miles
• Population 1 million Vermont
• Highest elevation: • 9,250 sq. miles
• Population 621,394
Mount Gennargentu, (2004)
6,017 ft. • Highest elevation:
• 4,073,000 sheep Mount Mansfield, 4,393
ft.
• 148,000 dairy cows
(2003)
• (1, 681,000 merino sheep
in 1840 -- 6 times the
human population)
“Mediterranean miniature
donkeys” on Asinara
(N. Sardinia)
Donkeys…
“Mediterranean
miniature donkeys” at
ASS-Pirin Acres,
Addison, VT
Sardinian
Language
• Directly descended
from Latin (i.e., not an
Italian “dialect”)
• 3 major dialects
• Until television, most
Sardinians didn’t
speak Italian
Diet of the Sardinian Shepherd
• Bread (pane carasau)
• Sheep cheese (pecorino)
• Fava beans
• Olives and olive oil
• Wine
• Wild greens, herbs, mushrooms
• Meat: lamb, suckling pig, sausage, ham
Sardinian daily diet in 1930 (Bosa)
• 1200 grams of bread (78%)
• 200 grams of vegetables and legumes
• 30 grams of cheese
• 100 grams of pasta
“Chie hat pane mai non morit”
Source: Carole Counihan, “Bread as World: Food Habits and Social Relations in
Modernizing Sardinia” in Food and Culture
Baking Pane Carasau
Bread Baking, Cairo, Egypt
Pecorino Sardo
Casu Marzu
Casu
Marzu
Grape varietals in Sardinia
• Nuragus (Phoenician)
• Vernaccia (Roman)
• Malvasia (Byzantine)
• Monica, Cannonau,
Carignano (Catalan)
• Vermentino
(Piedmontese)
Fava Beans
• Vicia faba
• Related to the vetches
• Originated in Eastern
Mediterranean
• Archeological specimens
found in Israel dated to
6500 B.C.E.
Carolingian Blessing on the Fava Bean
Benedic domine hos fructus nouos uuae siue faue, quos tu domine per
rorem celi et inundantiam pluuiarum et tempore serena atque
tranquilla ad maturitatem perducere dignatus es, ad percipiendum
nobis cum gratiarum actione in nomine domini nostri iesu christi, qui
tecum uiuit.
Lord, bless these new fava beans, and by means of
the dew of the sky, and the inundations of the
rain, and the good and tranquil weather deign to
lead them to maturity, so that we may receive
them with thanksgiving…
Favism
• Anemia caused by hemolysis, or the destruction of
healthy red blood cells
• Deficiency in Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
(G6PD), carried on the X-chromosome
• Related to Thalassemia (“anemia of the sea”)
• 1 out of 4 males in Sardinia is affected
• Protects against Malaria, but…
• Exposure to fava beans can be fatal
Religious traditions
Nuraghic Sacred Well, Santa Cristina
(Paulilatino)
Nuraghic
Sacred Well,
interior,
Santa Cristina
(Paulilatino)
Nuraghic Sacred Well and Village
Santa Cristina (Paulilatino)
Nuraghic village, Santa Cristina
Muristenes (or cumbessias) at Santa Cristina
Cumbessias at Monte Gonare (Orani)
Santa Anastasia
Sardara
Sardara, Santa Anastasia
Sardara,
Santa Anastasia
Nuraghe and Church of Santa Sabina
Silanus (near Nuoro)
2. Structures of Sardinia: Invasions
Sardinia, Caletta
Trade Routes
Who invaded?
• Phoenicians (c. 600 B.C.E.)
• Greeks • Pisans and Genoese (12th c.)
• Carthaginians (c. 400 • Catalans (14th c.)
B.C.E.) • Spanish (late 15th c)
• Romans (227 B.C.E.) • Austrians (1716)
• Vandals (c. 410 C.E.) • Piedmont (1718)
• Byzantines (6th c.) • Tourists….
• [Arab pirates]
The Sea Peoples?
• The “Shardana”
• First attested to in the Egyptian Amarna
Letters
• 14th c. -1100 B.C.E.
• Shardana-Sardis-Sardos-Sardines…
3. Islands and their Worlds
Malta, The Blue Lagoon
Malta:“The Navel of the Inland Sea”
• 316 sq. km
• Population
400,020
Rulers of Malta
• Phoenicians (c. 800 • Normans (1090)
B.C.E) • Genoese (1154)
• Carthaginians (c. 480 • Aragonese and
B.C.E. Castilians (1283)
• Romans (218 B.C.E.) • The Knights of St.
• Byzantines (395 C.E.) John (1530)
• Vandals…. Goths…. (5th • French (1798)
century) • British (1800)
• Arabs from Sicily (870) • Maltese (1964)
• 1st language: Punic
Maltese • 218-870C.E. bilingual
Language Punic and Latin
• Arabic conquest from
Sicily (870): Arabic
• 1048: Norman Conquest
- bilingualism with Sicilian
• Maltese: 20%
Italian/Sicilian, 80%
Semitic (Roman
alphabet)
• English is a second
official language (British
presence after 1802)
“Omphalos” of
the Earth
Biddio of the World