UN ground besieged by the speculators, but a mature and obstinate “young lady” who calls herself Madame because one day, for sure, it will go to Paris is determined not to sell it despite being poor and sent to the neighbors who see their deal fade. There is all Sardinia in the plot of Babbo wingsa novel in which Milena Agus also tells the story of her grandfather, ally in Madame’s struggle. THEthe obstinate character, the generosity, the cementing that has often raped traits of true earthly paradiseattachment to tradition are reverberated in a comic and dramatic, fairytale and true story, told by a very young narrator, amazed in front of Madame’s events and magical arts, based on the ancestral wisdom of this land.
“Without magic, life is only a great fright,” says Agus, our guide in Sardinia that inspires… What is the truth of these places? We ask. What pushes narrative in one direction rather than another? “There is a genius loci that spurs us to talk about the landscape, its mountains, the waters, the colors and the traditions. Sardinia has a wild and romantic character, the places you have to understand them, they are not only facts of things, but of emotions, atmospheres, character. Living, say the architects a little philosophers, means being in a place in a poetic way, identifying themselves, feeling at home, considering that friend friend ».
Avenge the offense
Indeed, the ancients before settling in an area gained his spirit, did not want to offend him fearing revenge … “But Sardinia was terribly offended by a lot of cementing, the spirit has already sold itself with the terrible flood of 2013. And continues to do so, with the calamities seen in the last few days”. A large island, lying in the Mediterranean and close to the great ducats and kingdoms of history. Waped to Spanish domain for more time than under the Italian one, it is almost a separate continent. The imaginative power that according to the writer unites it to all the other islands lies in a key. «It is the word” far “, a feeling of distance, for better or for worse. Be far away mitizes elsewhere. But in the end this distance of the continentals compared to us and us compared to the continentals makes us feel a little different. Which is perceived in the books of the Sardinian authors ».
Milena Agus, born in Genoa to Sardinian parents, lives in Cagliari where she taught Italian and history at the Foiso Fois high school. She is the author of the novels while sleeping the fishcan, stone pain, soul wings, the countess of ricotta, upside down, promised lands and a gentle untempo, winners of numerous prizes and translated in more than twenty languages. In 2024 he published the novel “Night of wind passing” (Mondadori). (Photo by Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images)
So different that 15 years ago, more or less, a Sardinian nouvelle vague exploded. «It was enough that a Sardinian wrote and, Puff, was already a wonder. We have become very famous »jokes Milena. Salvatore Niffoi, Marcello Fois, Michela Murgia, Flavio Soriga, Salvatore Mannuzzu, Milena Agus make you discover a world of stories between the ancestral wonder and modernity, with an intertwined style of Italian and Sardinian which pushes the very strong meaning of the narrative and maintains the identity root but does not take refuge there. “The first was Sergio Atzeni, the discovery of contemporary Sardinian writers is due to his books.” His Bellas Mariposas (Beautiful butterflies), he told in a surreal and hilarious flow of consciousness the day of two girls on the outskirts of Cagliari, the city where Milena Agus lives. «They came from the San Michele district, a hard place. I taught in the suburbs to very intelligent young people, but accustomed to having to show the lead face in order to be able to save themselves, in order to be able, paradoxically, choose the good instead of evil ».
The walls of the city surrounding the Cagliari Castle. (IPA)
Sardinia, between nobel and ball
Themes dear to Grazia Deledda, those rods in the wind in which it identifies human fragility, whose internal conflicts enhances and celebrates free will. «She is the flagship of our Pantheon, the only female nobel of Italy. Then there are Antonio Gramsci and Enrico Berlinguer. Fourth, but not least, Gigi Riva ». Of course, the great Cagliari of the seventies, led by a gunner who today would be a millionaire, perhaps bought a couple of apartments in his time. «He arrived young from the continent, from the province of Varese. And it became ours. Many important clubs have courted him and would pay him ten times a lot, but he gave up star contracts to be with us. And we loved it. Sardinian heart ».
The bay of Cagliari in a painting by Admiral Sir Edward Gennys Fanshawe. (IPA)
A heart that is divided between impervious mountains, esoteric monoliths of granite, and the turquoise sea, perhaps the most beautiful in the world. The sea of Cagliari, the famous Poetto, Milena Agus scattered him with full hands in his books. «In our biographies there is always the sea, we have it inside. My poet is a 12 -kilometer long sand strip, Reachable by bus P. We Cagliaritani call the points of the beach with the number of stops and say “I go to the first”, “I go to the fourth”, “I go to the fifth” … Then there are the elegant stops, which in Sardinian we call me Greu Pagu (how much I believe it) and those of the (raw) gaggi, of young people, old, families and contemplative intellectuals. For example, if you arrive very early and you are a contemplative, you enjoy the Sella del Diavolo, the promontory that marks the beginning of the beach, when it appears from the morning fog ». From the top of the devil’s saddle the gaze embraces the system of the Saline di Molentargius. “The tanks, separated from the banks, green, blue, gray, pink, do not even seem to contain water, but a solid and light substance, like a eyeshadow powder”. The cloud of pink feathers of the flamingos who found the nest and house here the fairytale landscape.
The Poetto beach, which can be reached by bus from Cagliari. (Getty Images)
Going up to the east, along the panoramic for Villa Simius, the turquoise of the beach of Mare Pintau explodes, of the Marine Protected Area of Capo Carbonara, of Punta Molentis. In the city, most of the most beautiful monuments are located in the historic Castello district: the towers of San Pancrazio and the elephant, the bastion of Saint Remy, the door of the lions, the cathedral of Santa Maria, the ancient elegant palaces, dot this medieval square which is the heart of Cagliari. «It has an amazing charm, because it is not ancient, it is old, it is slipped and a little falling, some house is renovated, but many don’t. From the dark and narrow streets you suddenly come out in the squares flooded with light or on balconies overlooking the city ».
Sardinian spirit and French plum cake
It is a place of contrasts, the castle, and also fascinates Cosima in Night of time that passesthe latest novel by Agus. A history of formation in which the real world urges the protagonist, a dreamer who will have to plant his feet on the ground and understand which adult will want to become, what love will want to feed on. Brushstrokes of irony are able to illuminate also a picture of povertyto make even the most ruinous scenes smile. Yet the Sardinians are not recognized much irony … “The Cagliariritanians have a particular irony because they are Levantini, especially the old generation, so much so that all the phrases that make you laugh on the night of wind that passes them tell them aunt Auxilia and the grandmother, two ladies of the country”.
“Night of wind that passes” (Mondadori): The protagonist is Cosima, a dreamer who will have to plant his feet on the ground.
Caught in his shadow line, in the transition from adolescence to the Cosima maturityas his teacher says, “literalizes reality”. “I have been doing it since I was a child. It does not mean going to reality, however it means looking at it from a romance and poetic point of view. It’s like putting a nice dress. Like the Madeleine of Proust: they too are literalized, if they were not, they would be normal French plum cakes. Here, we have better. “
About France, after the exploit of StonesAgus continues to be much loved across the Alps. What attracts the French of the characters so tied to a land with strong traditions? «I believe that likes the fact that, like their comedies, tragic situations also drawn with a certain lightness. We Calvino does it and, even more, the ginsburg. In America, directors like Billy Wilder. If I had to say what my great aspiration of writer is, what I would like to do before dying, because I’m already a little old woman, it is something that someone said: but this is the Sardinian Billy Wilder! ». Oh well, time has it because you Sardinians live for a long time … «No, the centenarians are in the Nuorese, the Cagliari are away before. I have to hurry ».
Where to sleep in Sardinia
Palazzo Doglio
In the heart of Cagliari, the first and only city hotel to be part of the prestigious Leading Hotels of the World circuits and virtuous. An international urban resort with a splendid internal court that hosts a jewelry, a boutique, four restaurants and a gourmet pastry shop, all with the dehors overlooking the square, also open to passers -by, in a continuous dialogue with the city. The pride is the Doglio Theater, an excellent cultural space and the pole for events, shows, concerts and reviews, contributing significantly to the city artistic scene. PalazzoDoglio.com
Where to eat
Osteria del Forte
In the court of Palazzo Doglio an exceptional restaurant
led by chef Alessandro Cocco – formed alongside masters such as Heinz Beck, Gordon Ramsay and Alain Ducasse. The cuisine celebrates the great Italian classics, reread elegantly. [email protected]
What to buy
Via Roma 55
An original shop full of charm, specialized in antiques and Sardinian craftsmanship: artistic ceramics, rugs, filigree and coral jewels and furnishing objects that tell the tradition of the island with taste.