In the distant 2001, an article published in the magazine “Archeologia Viva” mentioned the Esit -Sardinian Tourism Industries Agency- as the promoter of an excavation campaign at the site of the nuraghe Mannu in Dorgali, with the crucial participation of volunteers and the municipal administration, which took care of the logistical needs of the participants.
The journalist, recalling that such experiences had been taking place in Sardinia for six years, wrote in particular the following:
“Almost everyone writes to us when they return home, and these are letters full of nostalgia, of moments that one would wish were endless, where the archaeological experience, although fundamental, ends up becoming, rightly, a component of life, together with the discovery of Sardinian culture, environment, and spirit, in short, of the ‘continent’ Sardinia, completely unimaginable for those who do not ‘experience’ it from within.
And so, over time, excavations continue in the windy Gallura, in the nuragic and Punic Sulcis, in the ‘hard’ Barbagia, but this new relationship with the island is also spreading, from people (now hundreds and hundreds) who discover the full value of an exchange between their own social and cultural world, which each carries within themselves, and the reality of an island, otherwise seen as one of the usual ‘bite and run’ tourist spots.
But it is the Sardinians themselves who perhaps gain the most from all of this. And I am not talking about the obvious benefits in terms of the image and the promotion of their land. I mean the striking transformations occurring in the relationship between local communities and their heritage. The times when the piles of stones from ancient ruins were seen as quarries for building materials or places of probable treasures to be discovered and sold are not far off, nor have they entirely ended – here as elsewhere. Now we witness communities participating in the research, not only institutionally with the involvement of their administrations in the logistics of the excavations, but with the even more significant presence of individual citizens, often entire groups of students from the town or city, who roll up their sleeves, and this time to defend and enhance the richness of the common memory…”
A good result and due mention to the Esit, that instrumental body of the Regional Tourism Department that was perhaps too hastily suppressed. But above all, a virtuous example of collaboration between “public” and “private” and also of the proper recourse to “volunteering.”
It can also be said that the choice of nuraghe Mannu – which was the subject of the priority and more demanding intervention – was certainly commendable for the location of the monument between the sea and the mountains, absolute excellences of the Sardinian territory.
But it was mainly consistent with the need to promote a destagionalized (or destagionalizable) type of tourism primarily focused on the enhancement and promotion of an archaeological/cultural heritage that, due to its uniqueness and originality, must necessarily be considered as the main attractor of a now globalized tourist demand.
Regarding this nuraghe, let us revisit a passage from the description found on the website of the Ghivine cooperative:
“The first news related to Nuraghe Mannu comes from A. Taramelli, who explored the monument for the first time in 1927. The area, rich in a huge quantity of perfectly worked and squared basalt blocks, is characterized by the Nuraghe which, despite its name, is a single tower of modest dimensions, built with large polyhedral basalt blocks arranged in irregular rows, positioned against the ‘Codula di Fuili’, in an extraordinary area as a lookout point over the entire Gulf of Orosei. The entrance, facing east, is topped by an irregular lintel above which two rows of blocks and a related discharge window are preserved; a corridor covered with flat stones leads to an elliptical-shaped chamber that retains two large raised niches. In the corridor, there is a stairwell with an ellipsoidal shape that led to the upper terrace. Surrounding the Nuraghe is an immense village that occupies several hectares, partly covered by collapses and a thick undergrowth of mastic trees that roots itself among the masonry structures.”… “The excavation now clearly shows the aspect of a true city, whose history will need to be explored both by extending the exploration to other areas already delineated around the nuraghe and by investigating the older underlying Nuragic layers to obtain a reading of any phases of abandonment and reuse and, above all, to understand the causes…”.
The photos of the archaeological complex of Nuraghe Mannu, in Dorgali (Cala Gonone), are by: Maurizio Cossu, Andrea Mura- Nuragando Sardegna and Diversamente Sardi.
