Sardinia

by Susanna Hoe

Marianna Bussalai, the poet and anti-Fascist activist of the Barbagia region, wrote that she felt humiliated at school 'wondering why, in the history of Italy, Sardinia was never mentioned. I deduced that Sardinia was not Italty and had to have a separate history'. It is not surprising that islands tend to be different from the country to which they are in some way attached. But Sardinia's personality differs even more from that of Italy than one might expect. This book explores that difference through the island's women. Sardinia has been inhabited for longer than many European countries; of its earlier peoples, the best-known are the pre-historic Nuraghic. The hundreds of tall and mysterious megalithic towers which still grace the landscape are the most outward distinctive remnants of their civilisation. But it is from the myriad and tantalising clay statuettes found in ritual wells that it is possible to suggest aspects of women's lives. These are now in archaeological museums, such as that of Cagliari; many of the wells still exist. There followed invasions, colonisations and settlements - often bringing women exiles or landowners - by phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Muslims, Catalans, Genoese, Pisans, Spaniards and Savoyards, until finally the island became part of a united Italy, But, as the Swede Amelie Posse-Brazdova, sentenced to exile in Alghero during the First World War, was to write, 'For many centuries the Sardinians had been so fooled and exploited by the Italians, especially the Genoese merchants, that in the end they began to look upon them as their worst enemies.' However much that enmity is now little evident, Sardinia is still very much its own place, with its own languages. This is true of Alghero with its distinctive aura of Catalan occupation, of Marianna Bussalai's always intransigent Barbagia, and of Oristano where perhaps Sardinia's only well-known historical woman, Eleanora d'Arborea, ruled as Giudicessa in the fourteenth century. Although still particularly revered, she epitomised the strong and advanced women, from peasants to poitical activists, who emerge here from those often turbulent centuries.

Paperback

Reviews

[Khrys]

What a charming and interesting book. I bought it on vaccation in Alghero and have been pleasantly surprised. The book is beautifully written with a deep sense of respect and honest curiosity about the women of history but also their home. It is very endearing and touching to read about the island's history with a focus on women and their impact on the shaping of what it would become. It is detailed but it is also relevant and paints a broader picture. It took a while to read as you have to keep up with the different names but I feel it is a worth while read. The book made think and reflect on all these islands, how they are seen as part of the mainland or forgotten about entirely, and especially the usual missing characters in retelling of history - women. I feel in love with Sardinia while we were there and want to visit again, and now after this book I have so many more different places on my list to visit and a whole new level of fascination with the island. Massive thank you to the author for picking such a niche topic on the grand scale of mainstream historical topics, and handling it with so much care and respect and enthusiasm that it it spreads to the reader.

[Howard]

This book on Sardinia distills the mining heritage tourism of Sardinia that has emerged in recent years. We were on a geology tour, and the hisotry of th eisland in the airport bookshop was best addrressed by Miss Hoe's book. She is mourning the loss of her husband and life long collaborator. I look forward to introducing this to Irish readers to help them understand the history of the Aran Islands, Tory and Cape Clear and Bere Island.