Let’s imagine a gigantic international “market city,” with many shops including that of Sardegna and over a billion visitors circulating within it each year. On this side of the counter, we have the need to sell, but it is essential that there are buyers on the other side, so it is necessary to intercept a significant portion of the tide of people passing through the gallery. We have various goods displayed on shelves and in the window: sea, interior, climate, environment, traditions, hospitality, agri-food…. All of excellent quality, but other stores also offer similar high-quality items, perhaps not concentrated in the same establishment; only that in some they are cheaper or presented better, or those displaying them can rely on a sign rather than on a brand more well-known than ours. Then there are some seemingly insignificant stands that offer something particularly original. One of these boasts a sign reading “Loch Ness” and sells virtual “lake monsters” because no one has ever seen them; the other, at the end of the gallery, is called “Rapa Nui” and offers curious stone sculptures called “mohai.” The fact is that the two stands hold a monopoly on these objects and people line up to buy them, even if the ticket to access the stands is decidedly “steep”; but returning home to show relatives and friends photos of these objects… is trendy. While we wait behind our counter, enviously watching the crowd in front of the two competing stands, it suddenly occurs to us that we can count on a huge number of original objects forgotten in the attic, so exceptional that they overshadow any virtual lake monster or any mohai statue. Thus, along with our excellences in terms of sea, interior, climate, environment, traditions, folklore, hospitality, agri-food and so on, we decide to showcase our unique pieces that are plentiful: domus de janas, dolmens, tombs of giants, sacred wells and springs, menhirs, unsettling stone giants. But, above all, the over ten thousand nuraghi that constitute the true iconic identity of our land. All of this wrapped up with extraordinary stories, myths, and legends. Once this is done, to properly restart the shop’s activity, it will be enough to reorganize the window, approach the people passing through the gallery, invite them to enter and then present, with a big smile, all these wonders finally freed from indifference, more than from dust.
Attached: the nuraghi Ponte di Dualchi (ph. Lucia Corda), Losa di Abbasanta (ph. Andrea Mura-Nuragando Sardegna), Piscu di Suelli (ph. Diversamente Sardi) and Santu Antine di Torralba (ph. ArcheoUri Vagando). The tombs of giants of Coddu Ecchju in Arzachena (ph. Marco Cocco) and Sa Domu ‘e s’Orku in Siddi (ph. Bibi Pinna). The well temples of Funtana Coberta in Ballao (ph. Sergio Melis) and Sant’Anastasìa in Sardara (ph. Francesca Cossu).
