All UN missions From school supplies to clothes as well as hygiene products and blankets UNIFIL Italian peacekeepers recently donated a number of essential items to the population displaced by the ongoing violence across the Blue Line which is a gift from Italy’s Sant’Antioco Municipality is the continuation of a support scheme launched last May by the UNIFIL Italian contingent in aid of the displaced population The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimates that more than 110,000 Lebanese residents have been displaced from areas close to the Blue Line Thousands of them live in the nearest city with efforts from UNIFIL’s Italian contingent the cities of Tyre and Sant’Antioco signed a twinning agreement opening doors for cooperation between them During the donation ceremony of 9 September "The Italian soldiers have shown that they are bearers of a culture of peace and solidarity that has touched the hearts of us Lebanese demonstrating sincere feelings of brotherhood through their actions." Sant’Antioco Mayor Ignazio Locci echoed Mr "This donation holds special significance," said Mr adding that the twinning agreement paved a path for strengthening relations between the two Mediterranean cities "And it is precisely on the basis of this twinning," concluded Mr we feel particularly close to the population of Tyre and Lebanon for whom we wanted to promote this project." In a show of solidarity with UNIFIL’s work in south Lebanon Ambassadors and representatives of dozens of countries contributing troops to UNIFIL as well as Member States of UN Security Council visited the UN peacekeeping mission’s headquarters and the Blue Line today In order to mitigate threats posed by unexploded ordnances (UXOs) from the recent conflict to vulnerable communities UNIFIL’s Indian peacekeepers carried out an awareness campaign recently reaching 220 schoolchildren from three public schools in south Lebanon With the Lebanese Army gradually redeploying with UNIFIL support across south Lebanon the two forces have resumed vehicle patrols together along the Blue Line after more than six months Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker this glamorous Italian outpost flaunts almost 2000km of white sand and polished pebble coastline - and yet there’s so much more to Sardinia than just its beaches this sweet little home is set on the scene of salty scents and lapping waves From fragrant flowerbeds to perfectly trimmed trees the abundance of foliage here forms a green blanket of privacy around the property with a generously sized pool shaped like a crescent at its foot bathroom and living area all share a teal mosaic floor complemented by bold patterns and block colours on the furnishings while the snug hanging chair and garden table on the sheltered patio give you the option of outdoor lounging and dining Sleeps: twoPrice: from around £61 per night this home captures a rustic zeitgeist of bygone Italian years the open-plan living space stretches seamlessly from lounge to dining area to kitchen while the fixed wooden ladder leads to separate double and single bedrooms upstairs making this stay perfect for small families photo collages and eclectic sculptures contribute to the jumble of homely decor scattered across both floors There’s a charming walled garden with dainty white furniture and flourishing potted plants for enjoying the sun Sleeps: threePrice: from around £54 per night nestled so deep in the heart of a private vineyard that rolling fields and distant mountain ranges are all visible for miles Wine aficionados can indulge in the typical Sardinian varieties of red Cannonau and white Vermentino with guests invited to help with the grape picking during the harvest season Amenities include a high-speed wifi connection plus the huge gated pool shared with neighbouring cottages for refreshing dips and sunbathing on the lawn Sleeps: fourPrice: from around £173 per night this three-bedroom villa follows a bright white colour scheme with swirls of blue across its lamps Neat design touches maximise the space with a stylish flair or wooden bedroom doors opening directly onto the infinity pool a traditional stone barbecue and a plethora of pretty hidden nooks decked out with cosy chairs and unmatched ocean views which remind you that the crystal-clear waters really are on your doorstep Sleeps: sixPrice: from around £382 per night where a birds-eye view reveals the clever hilltop illusion of the pool suspended in the air The kitchen alone encapsulates the enchanting rural aesthetic rooms here are practical as well as pleasing to the eye All three double bedrooms are homely yet uncluttered while the games tent provides plenty of entertainment for all ages equipped with ping pong and foosball tables warmly welcoming their guests with accessibility information pre-booking and complimentary local produce upon arrival Sleeps: sixPrice: from around £206 per night the identical aesthetic shifts to a somewhat futuristic vibe Each ensuite bedroom is bright white and bare and pop of colour from the matching curtain-pillow combo Don’t miss the swish rooftop jacuzzi either positioned primely for sunset views over the white-sand cobalt-sea beaches of the port village below Sleeps: eightPrice: from around £1,626 per night Sleeps: eightPrice: from around £852 per night, with a three-night minimum Delegates from pilgrimage associations across 16 countries will be converging on Malta for a Camino conference that will be the first to be held outside Santiago de Compostela Brought over by the fledgling XirCammini a local voluntary hiking organisation that focuses on the spiritual and historical aspects of ancient pilgrimage routes the Camino Europa Compostela general assembly will be held in Rabat in May XirCammini is one of the first members of Camino Europa Compostela born of the Federation of Camino Associations “Malta has been actively trying to position itself as a prime faith tourism destination for several years – justifiably so because it is a cradle of Christian faith with routes tied to the apostolic visit of St Paul and also to the reign of the Knights of St John,” XirCammini founder James Portelli said Spiritual tourism had huge potential and this sector of special-interest travel was getting a lot of attention abroad has grown from its “very humble start” taking the international congress outside Spain for the first time in almost 40 years and attracting close to 100 delegates from 24 associations to Malta “This will give us the opportunity to showcase the island and the heritage of the Knights of St John – and their connection with the Camino de Santiago – to the presidents of all the European delegations the leaders and movers in their respective countries,” Portelli continued which focuses on faith and heritage Caminos was driven by the fact that spiritual tourism had huge potential and that this sector of special-interest travel was getting a lot of attention abroad Participants on the Cammino di Sant’ Antioco part of the Sardinia segment of the longest Camino de Santiago Supported by the Malta Tourism Authority and Heritage Malta it has rolled out five walks since its inception including the long-distance Camino Maltés de Santiago de Compostela ending in the leading Catholic pilgrimage destination The Malta segment of the route – a 34-kilometre heritage trail from Mdina to Vittoriosa – includes a revived ancient route 700 pilgrims of over 15 nationalities from the US across Europe and Asia to Australia and New Zealand have walked the Maltese segment they go through 10 localities over some eight hours Among the participants are those passionate about faith-based heritage trails as well as people who happen to be on holiday hear about it and ask to join while they are here The revived 500-year-old pilgrimage is complete with a website and was considered a “novel attraction” for locals and foreigners alike historically known as the Mixja ta’ San Girgor was launched after the pandemic for modern-day pilgrims “We are constantly innovating to be ahead of the pack in faith and heritage slow and green tourism in Malta and beyond,” Portelli said Close to 500,000 people walk the Camino de Santiago and obtain the Compostela Certificate each year the number of Maltese pilgrims to Santiago please register for free or log in to your account a unique yarn-making textile tradition from the past history is struggling for survival obtained from the giant muscle shell of Pinna Nobilis the greatest bivalve mule from the Mediterranean Sea a shell that is risking extinction since the early 1990s Photo: Ecomuseo del Bisso Facebook page Byssus fiber and a knitted piece “Byssus cannot be sold nor bought the craftswoman who learnt the art of producing this precious and rare yarn from her grandmother And despite some rare examples of the survival of this craft in the Mediterraneans area she seems to be the only person who keeps this art alive taught for 28 generations within her family This shell - rough in outer part and inner rich of mother-of-pearl - hosts a tasty muscle that men have been hunting for and octopuses the shell produces a special keratin-rich substance that helps to keep the shell sealed That same substance when getting in touch with water becomes solid in the form of a filament Photo: Maria Cristina Pavarini Tools for byssus yarn making This special substance can be picked - while keeping the shell alive and preserving it - in very small quantities every year and only in a few months of the year The fiber that is obtained from it looks like shiny weightless and then used for manufacturing precious fabrics or unique embroideries woven with nails between warp and weft Photo: Maria Cristina Pavarini Chiara Vigo embroidering byssus using her nails Byssus has been manufactured since the earliest days of mankind as it is known to have been first mastered by the ancient Egyptian during the Neolithic the Israelite tribes and other populations through the Mediterranean some steps of the Bible mention this very precious fabric ever since worn by kings emperors and other worthy personalities in the form of finely manufactured garments and accessories From about 250 grams of the fiber in its rough form they can obtain 30 grams of clean fiber that can be transformed into 21 meters of yarns Vigo has also developed special dyeing techniques that only use natural origin substances obtained from herbs and flowers then fixed and finished with other chemical-free non-harmful substances Vigo created and donated various works to ancient universities in-keeping with the DNA of this fiber that is a heritage for humanity and must be preserved Photo: Maria Cristina Pavarini Linen cloth decoded with byssus embroidery woven within the fabric She also recreated a special piece of cloth entirely made with byssus that reproduces what very probably used to be worn by King Solomon as she was contacted by a group of Israeli archeologists It took her five years to produce the small 12 x 15 cm piece of cloth - three to collect the byssus fiber and two to make it It also took her seven years to produce a man’s tie for her husband a single seamless piece entirely based upon needle work Photo: Ecomuseo del Bisso Facebook page A reproduction of an antique byssus piece of cloth A few years ago she had established a museum in Sant’Antioco through which she could spread information about the art of byssus and the know-how of ancient textile arts but it had to close as smaller museums had to reach specific turnovers and guarantee economic returns is the last depositary of this craftsmanship She finances her activities through private offers knowledge and mission to younger generations She has gathered around her some alumni from different parts of the world willing to learn not only the art of manufacturing and preserving byssus but also antique crafts like those of hand-weaving - she does on a ’700s old loom - eco-friendly fabric dyeing Photo: Ecomuseo del Bisso Facebook page Chiara Vigo “What I am doing is not for me but for teaching the world a know-how that belongs to the whole mankind and cannot be lost and for teaching how important it is to preserve and respect the environment so muchmore could be done through a more properly structured activity," she explained while showing kids who come to visit her every day how to hand-weave small bracelets and fabric pieces $(document).ready(function() { adition.srq.push(function(api) { api.renderSlot("renderSlot_Rectangle-2"); }); }); READ ALSO: The Materials is one of the most coveted materials in the world – but after more than 1,000 years in the same matrilineal family tree under the cover of darkness and guarded by members of the Italian Coast Guard 62-year-old Chiara Vigo slips on a white tunic recites a prayer and plunges headfirst into the crystalline sea off the tiny Sardinian island of Sant’Antioco Vigo descends up to 15m below the surface to reach a series of secluded underwater coves and grassy lagoons that the women in her family have kept secret for the past 24 generations She then uses a tiny scalpel to carefully trim the razor-thin fibres growing from the tips of a highly endangered Mediterranean clam known as the noble pen shell It takes about 100 dives to harvest 30g of usable strands which form when the mollusc’s secreted saliva comes in contact with salt water and solidifies into keratin it’s one of the rarest and most coveted materials in the world –  The last mermaids of Japan –  The secret behind Italy's rarest pasta –  The world's smallest kingdom Vigo is believed to be the last person on Earth who still knows how to harvest dye and embroider sea silk into elaborate patterns that glisten like gold in the sunlight Women in Mesopotamia used the exceptionally light fabric to embroider clothes for their kings some 5,000 years ago It was harvested to make robes for King Solomon mentioned 45 times in the Old Testament and thought to be the material that God commanded Moses to drape on the altar in the Tabernacle No-one is precisely sure how or why the women in Vigo’s family started weaving byssus patterns and dying formulas of sea silk have been passed down through this astonishing thread of women – each of whom has guarded the secrets tightly before teaching them to their daughters After an invitation to visit Vigo’s one-room studio I suddenly found myself face-to-face with the last surviving sea silk seamstress watching her magically spin solidified clam spit into gold I slowly approached the small wooden table where Vigo worked glass jars filled with murky indigo and amber potions and a certificate confirming her highest order of knighthood from the Italian Republic cast aside on the floor “But you’d have to stay here for a lifetime to understand it.” Italy's last sea silk masterVigo learned the ancient craft from her maternal grandmother who taught traditional wool weaving techniques on manual looms to the women of Sant’Antioco for 60 years She remembers her grandmother paddling her into the ocean in a rowboat to teach her to dive when she was three years old My grandmother wove in me a tapestry that was impossible to unwind“My grandmother wove in me a tapestry that was impossible to unwind,” Vigo said you must devote your life to learning the techniques from the existing master She is bound by a sacred ‘Sea Oath’ that maintains that byssus should never be bought or sold despite weaving works for display in the Louvre Vigo doesn’t have a single piece of byssus in her home She lives in a modest apartment with her husband and they live off his pension as a coal miner and donations from visitors who stop by Vigo’s studio Vigo explained that the only way to receive byssus is as a gift She’s created pieces for Pope Benedict XVI and the Queen of Denmark but more often than not she embroiders designs for newlywed couples children celebrating a christening and women who come to her in hopes of becoming pregnant Selling it would be like trying to profit from the sun or the tides“Byssus doesn’t belong to me “Selling it would be like trying to profit from the sun or the tides.” But that hasn’t stopped people from trying until the 1930s the only other place besides Sant’Antioco where the tradition of sea silk harvesting and embroidering continued was the city of Taranto “A woman there forsake the Sea Oath and tried to establish a commercial byssus industry,” Biniecka said it went bankrupt and she mysteriously died.” a Japanese businessman approached Vigo with an offer to purchase her most famous piece It took Vigo four years to stitch the glimmering 45x45cm design with her fingernails “The women of the world are not for sale.” Neither is the painstaking process behind her pieces which she slowly revealed during my four-day visit After harvesting raw byssus from the depths of the sea she desalts the fibres by submerging them in fresh water for 25 days she cleans the threads with a carding brush to remove any remaining sediment Then comes the hardest part: separating each strand of pure sea silk from the tangle of raw byssus Because sea silk is three times finer than a strand of human hair Vigo peers through a lamp with a magnifying glass as she delicately plucks each thread of silk using a pair of tweezers “But my fingers have been practicing this for 50 years.” On several occasions after Vigo extracted a thick tuft of fibres she ordered me to close my eyes and extend my hand I’d open my eyes to see Vigo rolling a weightless cloud of sea silk back and forth on my palm she twists the silk manually around a small wooden spindle usually singing in Sardo – the closest living form of Latin – during the process she grabs a jar of cloudy yellowish liquid from the shelf dropping the thin thread into a secret concoction of lemon the thread becomes elastic and she excitedly ushered me outside to show how it shimmered in the sunlight Vigo has an encyclopaedic knowledge of 124 natural dye variations made from fruits Vigo intertwines the spun silk into the linen warp using her fingernails It takes 15 straight days of extracting and dying raw byssus to create enough threads to weave just a few centimetres like a 50x60cm cloth of pure sea silk weighing just 2g like the larger tapestries draped atop her loom depicting Biblical passages and pagan deities eight of which will never be written and have been passed down orally from generation to generation,” she said But after more than 1,000 years in the same matrilineal family tree the heir to the byssus secrets is Vigo’s youngest daughter Vigo began teaching her how to dive and embroider at an early age “The only thing she’s missing is the formulas for the dye potions,” Vigo told me But there’s a problem: “My mother and I are very different,” Maddalena said from her home in Dublin where she’s been living for the past two years “People have always told me that I’d be a fool to allow this art to die What’s more, after creating the world’s only museum dedicated to byssus in 2005, Vigo awoke one day last autumn to find that the government of Sant’Antioco had unexpectedly closed her free Museo del Bisso citing that the building’s electrical system wasn’t up to code “The ‘electrical problem’ was me!” Vigo snapped “The municipality tried to force me to charge entrance fees and write down my patterns and secrets But I will defend this sacred oath with my fingernails as long as I breathe!” The secrets may die with me, but the silk of the sea will live onThe news drew national attention, spurring an online petition that garnered nearly 20,000 signatures – including that of the President of Sardinia – to no avail two young artists started a crowdfunding campaign to help Vigo rent the one-room studio where she now works it’s the same room where Vigo’s grandmother taught her how to spin sea silk 50 years ago Unless they can raise €85,000 to purchase the rent-to-own property by November 2018 the town will evict her and the world will no longer be able to watch its last sea silk seamstress spin byssus into gold she led me to a secluded cove where women in her family have prayed for as long as she can remember pulled out a clump of 300-year-old byssus from a vial Custom Made is a BBC Travel series that introduces you to custodians of cultural traditions all around the world Join over three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "If You Only Read 6 Things This Week". 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Cascà photo on the cover: @Sardinia Country flavorful and with a texture that is delicious to the palate: this is couscous which has therefore successfully found its way into many food cultures on the northern shore of the Mediterranean We are talking in particular about the gastronomic culture of Carloforte (as of today between 5,000 and 6,000 inhabitants) and Calasetta (3,000) two beautiful seaside towns on the Island of San Pietro and the Island of Sant'Antioco these two small islands are a year-round tourist destination gastronomic excellence and an extraordinary grape variety which often grows free-range and gives brilliant and intense red wines Carloforte and Calasetta were founded in the eighteenth century by Genoese exiles they had settled there two centuries earlier to trade and fish coral; by the eighteenth century relations with the Tunisians had deteriorated so they returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia founding first Carloforte (1738) on the desert island of San Pietro Since then these stubborn and resilient fishermen and farmers have never abandoned the Genoese language which is an interesting contamination of Genoese cuisine Sardinian cuisine and precisely Tunisian cuisine And this is where the cascà carlofortino precisely comes in an identity dish that is celebrated every year with a fine gastronomic festival interpreted according to the sensibility of this population of Ligurians transplanted to Sardinia Carlofort people are said to be as good farmers as they are fishermen mentioned as early as a 1931 Italian Touring Club cookbook following the seasons; in winter it is full of cabbage and leafy greens in spring and summer it is colored with broad beans nourishing dish with little expense since practically all Tabarchans have a garden in the village others meat; there are as many variations as there are families in this seaside village where even the children speak a kind of ancient Genoese and know nursery rhymes and ditties now forgotten in the motherland also celebrated in an annual festival that attracts thousands of visitors The preparation of the cascà consists of placing the semolina on a smooth surface (or a large earthenware bowl) pouring lukewarm water by sprinkling it and exerting a rotating action with the hand that causes the semolina to agglomerate into small balls After forming the cascà this is left to rest before being stewed and then seasoned with seasonal vegetables and legumes previously sautéed and then stewed with spices to taste Pilaf or pilau originally was an oriental rice-based preparation enriched with meat Historical sources indicate that “pilaf” designates the cooking method rather than an ingredient a delightful village whose houses are painted white and blue it denotes a preparation of couscous (called scucuzù) with a tasty red sauce with shellfish and/or fish after sautéing garlic and onion and fresh tomatoes (or peeled or pureed tomatoes) to add other crustaceans or small fish as an alternative to the spider crab and cichalas depending on what was available at the fishmonger's counter a way to consume without waste what the fishermen of Calasetta brought home when ecology and sustainability were a necessity to make ends meet Do you want to discover the latest news and recipes of the most renowned chefs and restaurants in the world La nostra società utilizza inoltre cookie funzionali per registrare informazioni sulle scelte dell’utente e per consentire una personalizzazione del Sito; ad esempio Questi cookie possono essere installati dalla nostra società o da Terze parti In caso di disabilitazione di questi cookie la qualità e l’esperienza di navigazione potrebbe non essere soddisfacente Questi cookie sono installati da social media per consentire la condivisione dei contenuti del presente Sito Essi sono in grado di monitorare la navigazione compiuta anche in altri siti e creano un profilo dell’utente sulla base dei suoi interessi Ciò potrebbe avere un impatto sul contenuto e messaggi visualizzati sugli altri siti visitati non sarà possibile utilizzare o visualizzare questi strumenti di condivisione per l’installazione e l’uso di tali cookie occorre il consenso dell’utente Per maggiori informazioni consulta la pagna cookies policy and gaining respect in Chile and California this workhorse grape is a becoming a flagship variety – and there are good reasons for that Carignan – or Cariñena and Mazuelo as it’s known in its source area of Aragon in Spain – has its own appellation in Sardinia where the grape is prized for first-rate wines in a range of styles This was shown during a masterclass on 11 October where the UK wine trade were offered a day of tastings beamed lived from Italy to London Among these was a showcase for Carignano del Sulcis DOC an appellation in the southwest of Sardinia and its two nearby islands which is connected to Sardinia by a road bridge is notable for its extremely sandy vineyards although such soils can be found along all the coastal sites of the Carignano del Sulcis DOC Such a basis for vines is extremely important because it has ensured the root-eating phylloxera louse that devastated the vineyards of Europe in the late nineteenth century has never been able to damage the plants in these seaside sites – the bug doesn’t like sandy soils this area of Sardinia is home to one of Europe’s largest collection of pre-phylloxera vines allowing vignerons in Carignano del Sulcis DOC to make wines from extremely old this means that the region is home to viticulture as it was practised 150 years ago with ungrafted Carignano trained in the traditional Albarello system (pictured below) Carignano del Sulcis DOC is notable for the style of wines that are produced which range from easy-drinking light rosatos and reds tasting Carignano del Sulcis is a revelation as it can be fleshy and relatively concentrated dry tannic component in the most powerful wines Helping Carginano achieve greatness is this part of Sardinia is not just the age of the vines dry and windy conditions yielding concentrated next time you consider Carignan or Mazuelo remember that Sardinia is home to delicious and distinctive examples celebrated as part of a special DOC carrying the grape’s name: Carignano del Sulcis I’ve picked out a few examples to try below while fully aware that this grape does reach heights elsewhere in the world South Africa (Pederberg) and California (Mendocino how did Mazuelo end up in Sardinia – where it is also sometimes called Bovale di Spagno it is believed that the grape was brought from its native home of Aragon by the Spanish who ruled over the now Italian island from 1323 to 1720 no doubt due to its ability to withstand Sardinia’s dry and hot climate low-pH wines despite the harsh conditions – a result of its late-budding and late-ripening nature A pale peach wine with a slightly oily mouthfeel affordable (sub £20) red made from ungrafted vines – some of which are over 100 years old – grown on the sandy soils of Sant’Antioco and made by the Cantina Sardus Pater cooperative followed by persistent notes of cracked black pepper and dried herbs A flagship Sardinian Carignano created by the late great Italian wine consultant Giacomo Tachis who worked with the Santadi cooperative from 1984 and French oak barriques – where the wine ages for 18 months – this is a powerful complex and impressive red with a relatively high price tag (around £55) Flavour-wise there is lots of sweet black cherry A fascinating sweet wine from Carignano made from dried grapes to yield something warming (15% abv) and rich then a touch of candied orange and dry tannin to balance the intensely sweet mid-palate We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again Lightering operations have begun for the stranded freighter CDRY Blue which ran aground on a rocky shore in Sant'Antioco Smit Salvage has been appointed lead salvor and is overseeing the work in cooperation with the Guardia Costiera and the local port authority.  The pollution-prevention plan calls for bunkers and other petroleum on board the CRDY Blue to be pumped into special containers on deck the containers will be flown off by helicopter The process is expected to take several days; once defueling is complete attention will turn to lightering off the ship's cargo and the salvage of the vessel herself.  One spill response vessel and two patrol boats are standing by at the scene to monitor for signs of pollution The Guardia Costiera has conducted multiple dive surveys of the seabed under the CRDY Blue's hull to monitor her condition.  the bulker CDRY Blue went aground on a rocky shore on the coast of Sardinia forcing the evacuation of her crew and the launch of a pollution-prevention effort the CDRY Blue was seeking shelter from stormy weather when she went aground on a shoal between Porto Sciusciau and Capo Sperone in the Sant'Antioco area of southwestern Sardinia the Cagliari Harbor Office launched an effort to rescue the crew It dispatched two patrol boats and one helicopter from the Guarda Costiera to the scene Due to unfavorable conditions and 50 knot winds the helicopter aircrew was not immediately able to hoist the seafarers off the vessel it returned and managed to rescue all 12 members of the CDRY Blue's crew.  Prosegue l’attività di monitoraggio del #4 ° nucleo sub#Guardia Costiera #Cagliari a tutela dell'ambiente marino circostante lamotonave CDRY BLUE, incagliata sulla costa Sud-Ovest dell'isola diSant'Antioco. pic.twitter.com/EEMPPKqQvT You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed a 108 m long merchant ship flying the Italian flag from Cagliari and heading for Alicante ran aground on the south-west coast of Sardinia and more precisely in Torre Cannai Municipality of Sant’Antioco Under the coordination of the Maritime Directorate of Cagliari the Coast Guard air and naval vessels were immediately sent to the scene: two patrol boats specialized in search and rescue and a NEMO helicopter in force at the 4th Helicopter Section of the Coast Guard of Decimomannu due to poor visibility and prohibitive weather conditions – with gusts of wind up to 50 knots – it was not possible to recover the 12 crew members on board during the night despite the fact that an additional Air Force helicopter was it has also been used in operations At the first light of dawn – despite the persisting bad weather conditions – the NEMO helicopter of the Coast Guard managed to rescue all the seafarers present on board with three successive sorties transporting them to a square adjacent to the Office Circondariale Marittimo di Sant’Antioco for the occasion equipped as a collection and assistance point Regional Civil Protection and Fire Brigade personnel through a tug that left the port of Cagliari and patrols from the ground of the local Maritime District Office the ship’s monitoring activities continue to be monitored on the spot to check its stability and any oil spills All operations are constantly monitored and monitored by the Coast Guard General Command Operations Center Dall’elicottero NEMO della #GuardiaCostiera, le immagini del recupero di uno dei membri dell’equipaggio della CDRY BLUE, la motonave che nella serata di ieri si è incagliata sulla costa di Sant’Antioco, in Sardegna. #SAR pic.twitter.com/WWgOjr68SZ — Guardia Costiera (@guardiacostiera) December 22, 2019 — Guardia Costiera (@guardiacostiera) December 22, 2019 Disclaimer : The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only While we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct we make no representations or warranties of any kind suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of Do you have info to share with us ? Suggest a correction Marine Insight News Network is a premier source for up-to-date and insightful coverage of the maritime industry Marine Insight News Network prides itself on delivering accurate Signup today and get maritime ebooks submitted to your inbox directly.  © 2010 - 2025 Marine Insight — All Rights Reserved We respect your privacy and take protecting it very seriously Andrew Jefford visits Italy’s ‘other’ wine island and discovers four reasons (or more) to take it seriously.. but the heart of Sardinia was still vividly green at the end of March A chaos of hills rippled away in every direction (almost 70 per cent of the island’s landmass is hilly with just under 14 per cent classified as mountainous) echoing to the sound-mosaic of hundreds of sheep bells roughly half the national herd and source of most of the milk for Italy’s Pecorino Romano PDO cheese Some 80 per cent of the cork produced in Italy This is the Mediterranean’s second largest island – pipped only by a Sicilian whisker; its southerly neighbour is just six per cent bigger Sardinia is only Italy’s fourteenth largest region (Sicily Their fascinating wines deserve to be better known The first is Vermentino: maybe the world’s best That’s a question which merits a separate answer – which I’ll try to provide in a later blog Italy in general grows much less of this variety than does France (Carignan) or Spain (Mazuelo but I suspect that many Languedocien wine growers would be shocked to discover the rich textures and flavours which this variety can acquire in Sardinia Carignan is often a piercing alto in Languedoc and best blended; in Sardinia it can be warm and comforting bass Never better than in the sandy soils of Sulcis and especially on the large island of Sant’Antioco (Italy’s fourth largest in its own right) connected to the Sardinian mainland by a bridge that much Carignano de Sulcis is ungrafted I’d be surprised if Sardinian Carignano didn’t feature somewhere in the top twenty of any serious competitive blind tasting of this variety Italian plantings of this variety are dwarfed by Spain’s Garnacha stocks and France’s walletful of Grenache – but Sardinia’s efforts with the variety are of compelling interest The variety is grown in a number of different locations and different soils but the best for me came from the granite uplands around Nuoro and particularly the lonely village of Mamoiada the variety sheds its lowland sweetness and takes on an airy freshness and stony purity the kind of mountain Grenache which tiptoes gracefully into Pinot territory can be a wine of unusual completeness and authority for this variety That would be Sardinia’s own indigenous varieties (it claims up to 150) and specialities (including both sweet dry and botrytised Malvasia di Bosa; as well as the complex Genetic intricacy is always of interest for its own sake and I enjoyed the examples I tried of these rare varieties often salvaged with great efforts (including the white Arvisionadu At least I thought that the twelve just mentioned were all indigenous — but a little research after I got home in Robinson Harding and Vouillamoz’s Wine Grapes suggested that Bovale Mannu and Bovale Grande are in fact the same as Carignano Bovale Sardo and Cagnulari are identical to Graciano one of the island’s leading viticultural researchers says that Bovale Mannu is in fact another synonym for Graciano while Muristellu and Bovaleddu are not in fact Graciano but a different variety altogether Cagnulari certainly seemed to make the most interesting wines after Vermentino Carignano and Cannonau – in a rather less stern and more voluptuous guise than Graciano can often assume Canny readers will have noted just how much vine material Sardinia seems to share with Spain and this is usually attributed to a long period of Aragonese rule in Sardinia (between the arrival of the Catalan army under Crown Prince Alfonso of Aragon in 1324 and the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713) Catalan is still spoken in the northwestern Sardinian port of Alghero point out that the trading Phoenicians may have been moving these grape varieties around before the Aragonese ever arrived – and they would dearly love to prove that Cannonau is in fact an indigenous variety which the Aragonese took back to Spain no comprehensive genetic proof of this – though some 2010 research by Manna Crespan and others claimed that Cannonau is more genetically diverse than Spanish Grenache Other researchers cited by the Wine Grapes authors The question will be tussled over for a while yet I haven’t mentioned the usual plethora of DO and IGT names since the island’s leading wines usually contain the variety name in the DO or IGT formula pan-Sardinian IGT ‘Isola dei Nuraghi’ — since no such island can be found in any atlas It’s a cultural reference to the mysterious towers called Nuraghe which dot Sardinia and which date back to 730 BCE to 1900 BCE was that since ‘Sardegna’ already featured in a number of DOC formulae would have been more helpful to consumers than sending them scurrying off for an island which doesn’t exist made from 100-year-old ungrafted bush vines on the island of Sant’Antioco and exposed to the ‘salty wind’ that gives the wine its Sardinian name The palate is very deep and fleshy for Carignan This is a much lighter wine than the Bentesali (50 year old vines and with 10 per cent Monica) yet it has superb concentration and tannic grip behind the rose produced from selected Sedilesu bush vines of 50 years or more in the best years only harvested in October and given a month’s maceration crushed stone and perfumed plum skins is followed by a dense seems to explode in the mouth and send granite shards force-of-nature wine is magnificent now but will surely see out a decade or two without trouble Some Sardinian Cagnulari can be very savoury but the Siddùra version is full of peppery fruits smooth-textured flavours – yet it grows in complexity and stature with time in the mouth; the finish is stony even tarry: this Cagulari smells nocturnal and byzantine with both red and black fruit notes freighted with more exotic incense spice and both satisfying and refreshing to drink A masterful rendition of what can often be a difficult grape to vinify with complex scents: both sweet and savoury it is another wine which seems smooth and rich when you first sip but which acquires texture and flavoury grain as it lingers in the mouth An astonishing young Cagnulari: intoxicating primary fruit and flower aromas come storming from the glass lush and luscious wine of huge exuberance and impact There is ample tannin to counterbalance its very sweet style of fruit (though the producer assures me the wine contains no residual sugar) 3Culture🚀2,000-year-old rice recipe brought back to stunning life by Chinese studentsMaria Mocerinoa day ago 8Culture🚀$340,000 hidden treasure, 598 gold coins discovered in Czech while leisure hikingMaria Mocerinoa day ago 10Energy🚀US fusion research at 180,000°F super-hot plasma reveals unexpected heat flow barrierAman Tripathi2 days ago 2Culture🌟Trump’s secure messaging app hacked, deportation airline also hit by cyberattackAamir Khollaman hour ago 3Energy🌟US scientists end 70-year fusion struggle, paving way for better reactorsAamir Khollam3 hours ago 5Science🌟In a first, protons in biological system seen following quantum rules: Study Mrigakshi Dixit4 hours ago 7Space🌟US orders NASA to build first lunar time zone to guide astronauts on the MoonAamir Khollam5 hours ago 10Science🌟Sperm cells use heat as a switch to power up for egg penetration, finds studyMrigakshi Dixit7 hours ago Mario L. Major Nelly Dietzel and Luigi Garavaglia /ChiaraVigo just off the Italian coast of Sicilia sits Museo del Bisso home to the artist Chiara Vigo who makes truly unique works of art from a rare product extracted from the sea referred to as byssus When one understands the intricate process and work involved in harvesting the sea silk and transforming it it becomes clear why Vigo is believed to be the only living person in the world able to produce items made from sea silk The process starts with Vigo making several dives to harvest the sea silk from molluscs—the result of the mollusc’s saliva reacting with the salt water in the sea produced keratin which makes it fortunate that only Vigo may be using it dried and prepared for the enormous task of separating the fine sea silk from the thick clump which is where her fifty years of experience precision and attention to detail become invaluable The silk is then threaded and woven on a loom which has been used for more than 200 years in her family The weaving and dying process can take any time from a few days to a few years depending on the size of the cloth and the combination of dyes used—the artist possesses in excess of not only 100 dye combinations some of which she says she plans to never share is the same: a unique piece which glistens like gold when sunlight shines through it Vigo has a unique philosophy about the value of byssus: “Byssus doesn’t belong to me “Selling it would be like trying to profit from the sun or the tides.” Vigo believes that the only conditions under which byssus can be given are as a gift Weaving sea silk is considered a great honor and it involves a series of rituals passed down in the 1,000 years the tradition has existed in Vigo’s family the next person in line to learn the process takes a vow to safely guard the information about how to weave the sea silk the person makes a vow to pass the knowledge of how to construct the intricate designs down to the next generation—only one person is chosen for this honor Vigo says of her commitment to the tradition: “My grandmother wove in me a tapestry that was impossible to unwind…Since then As is the case of oral tradition and other traditions which are passed down over many generations tracing origins accurately can be a challenge but a rich history which unites the women in her family and an ancient tradition which spans the ages Via: Ask Nature, BBC 0COMMENTABOUT THE AUTHORMario L. Major <p>Mario Major is a professional writer He divides his time between the US and Turkey and brings his educational and linguistic background to his projects he is lending his writing and editing skills to Interesting Engineering and working on his first manuscript By clicking sign up, you confirm that you accept this site's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Premium The world of water sports on stage at the beginning of June in South Sardinia at the Calasetta Water sports Festival and kayak will be the protagonists at La Salina beach in top-level sports and promotional events: the highlight will be the IFCA Junior and Youth Slalom World Championships but also of important cultural and musical events for a start to the summer season dedicated to the sea Just over two months to go until the 2023 edition of the Calasetta Water sports Festival an event that from 2 to 18 June will offer a series of events which will be both sporting/educational/promotional and cultural and musical The most important event from a competitive point of view will be the IFCA Slalom Windsurfing World Championship for the Junior and Youth categories (around 150 athletes are expected from 5 to 11 June) which follows the European Championship organised last year by the Circolo Nautico Marinai d’Italia Sant’Antioco affiliated with the Italian Sailing Federation as well as the Water Skiing which is once again set to organise the highest class championship in a location considered a true paradise for water sports and windsurfing in particular Registration for the World Championship opened a few days ago with teams from all over the world starting to plan the Sardinian trip which will certainly keep participants and companions on the island of Sant’Antioco for much longer than the five days of competition But before and after the Slalom World Championship as well as for activities with the disabled the Italian SUP Racing and Paddleboard Championships will be held from 2 to 4 June with the Calasetta-Carloforte and Calasetta-Sant’Antioco crossings also planned routes that will be chosen according to weather conditions it will be the turn of the world’s top youth windsurfing slalom discipline: an opportunity to see the world’s best under-17 and under-21 riders racing to the sound of jibes and glides the discipline that has seen a real boom in the last two seasons will be on stage: there will be promotional activities to get closer to wing foil the sport that is going crazy in seas all over the world But there will also be a moment dedicated to those who are less fortunate and face life with disabilities: thanks to the cooperation with “Gli equilibristi Onlus” it will be possible to propose Ocean racing Kayak activities with disabled people on 15 June kite surfing and its educational proposals will fly the Calasetta Water Sports Festival will close with a competition of the Regional Ocean Racing Kayak Championship The La Salina beach will be bursting with liveliness offering ‘full’ days from morning to evening when the cultural activities (still to be defined in detail) will come into play bringing Calasetta to life not only on the beach It will be a start to the summer season dedicated to nature Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription Sign up to receive awesome content in your inbox We don’t spam!Read our privacy policy for more info We keep your data private and don't spam. Read our full Privacy Policy © Copyright © 2005-document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) Live Sail Die Limited The views and opinions expressed on this web site are soley those of the original authors and other contributors These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of official sailing agencies Live Sail Die is a recognised member of the NZ Marine Industry Association.Live Sail Die drone pilots are CAA Part 102 Certificated I arrived at the threshold of this poem by Oliveros through a citation in a poem by Michael Swaine that was part of a book I was recently proofreading which had been accompanied by illustrations from Charles Darwin’s controversial 1881 manuscript more popularly known as The Habits of Worms Through his experimentation and observations Darwin had concluded the following: “It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures.” remarks upon how the five-headed serpent wrapped around an orange lingam-shaped termite hill denotes 15 half-counts (drut) ‘essentially fast beats followed by a slow then slower one.’ “Without any other clues one can imagine how this rhythm replicates the quick repetitive knocking of termites’ heads on the walls of their hill which then slow and pick up again…” I learned that termites allegedly always build their mounds angled or titled towards the sun author of Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology wrote marvellously about this orientational strategy “as if the termite has computed its own position in the solar system We need stories to understand ourselves,” Rushdie says something that sounds profound but is “We are the only creature that does this unusual thing Telling each other stories in order to try and understand the kind of creature that we are.” I found this observation grounded in a form of superiority yet flagrant inability to imagine other forms of story-telling by other-than-human life forms is an ode to all the narrative energy that exists in the cosmos that can be experienced and encountered by cultivating a practice of deep listening “Sound is the fibre of my being and of all sentient beings without exception,” she writes These days I have been thinking a lot about what it means, as a feminist art critic to ‘listen to’ and excavate stories that were consciously kept outside of our range of hearing How do we put our ears to non-cis-het-white-male ground to uncover alterity to tune into frequencies that have been institutionally dismissed and discarded cast off for not falling into male-prescribed norms of what art is supposed to look like If even the definition of who gets to be an artist is now defined by the validation of an institutionalised education how do we conceive of reparative re-considerations of female artistic and intellectual labour Does it demand of us to completely transform our received understanding of who gets to call themselves an artist On a warm, humid early July afternoon, at the Museo del Bisso, in Sant'Antioco, Sardinia thanks to a field trip organised by the Sardinian Film Commission that she didn’t consider herself an artist but a maestro which reminded me of a quote I had come across attributed to Meera Mukherjee who spent her life working with all manner of people who are not conventionally considered to be artists Mukherjee preferred to call herself an artisan an artist primarily aspires for recognition and status as an artist while an artisan aspires to link life and art into one inseparable entity This was the premise of Vigo’s lifework possibly around up to 17 yards deep into a location off the coast of Sardinia that is home to giant mollusks (Pinna nobilis) which secrete a fibrous saliva in order to attach themselves to the seafloor which harden into a silky filament upon touching sea water Vigo preciously fetches this hairy filament retrieving it carefully without in any way endangering the mollusk Which means she may have to dive in multiple times to gather about a single once trimming the byssus from each bivalve with a tiny scalpel and strictly adhering to her sea oath prevents her inherited as a family secret kept by the women over at least 24 generations like many ancestrally practised female traditions her art exists outside of capitalist networks that cater to demand and supply Vigo sustains herself from whatever visitors leave in a box in her studio She performs demonstrations of her entire process thus engaging in a form of transparency about every detail relating to it to how she spins it into a thread-like form then dips it into a saline solution into which she chants a prayer She insists that her sound intervention is what activates the molecular components of the organic solution constituted by the silk thread she has spun which glints in the sunlight he was only allowed to listen to her perform the surbahar at night it seems like it would have been the most mystical time to hear her “When I play at night once in a while I smell the sweetest seasonal flowers in this very room,” she had told Swapan Kumar Bondyopadhyay who published a book titled Annapurna Devi—An Unheard Melody “The smell comes and envelops me from nowhere I saw the half-hidden face of a sweet woman draped in a white sari She appeared again and again but not for once could I see her full face.” Annapurna Devi believed in the power invested in sound if you can get your mind tuned peacefully to the eternal (Disclaimer: The views and opinion expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of STIR or its Editors.) editor and researcher currently based in the Italian Alps She is the author of A Handbook for My Lover (HarperCollins India D’Mello writes a weekly feminist column for mid-day and a monthly memoir-based art column on contemporary art for STIRworld She was a fellow atKünstlerhaus Büchsenhausen Venice (2021) and the recipient of an India Foundation for the Arts research grant (2019–2022) Her writing has been internationally published and anthologised most recently in Future Library: The Red Hen Anthology of Contemporary Indian Writing  (2023) When a famed Indian artist used a protest poet’s words without credit it raised a deeper question: who gets to speak The veteran curator on the Sharjah Biennial 16 and collection-building as history-writing This selling exhibition has been conceived as a collaboration between WWF to further ocean conservation initiatives across the UK A museum at Cambridge University examines Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade between 1750-1850 Exclusive preview for subscribers. Learn More Make your fridays matter. Learn More © Copyright 2019-2025 STIR Design Private Limited Please confirm your email address and we’ll send you a link to reset your password All your bookmarks will be available across all your devices Password must be 8 characters long including one capital letter By creating an account, you acknowledge and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy by STIR Select the Conversation Category you would like to watch Please enter your details and click submit Single account access for STIRworld.com,STIRpad.com and exclusive STIRfri content Verification link sent to check your inbox or spam folder to complete sign up process by Rosalyn D`Mello | Published on : Aug 21 Sea silk sounds like the stuff of legend. Harvested from rare clams, this thread flashes gold in the sunlight, weighs almost nothing, and comes with a heavy load of misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misinformation Its flaxen strands come from Pinna nobilis a giant Mediterranean mollusk that measures up to a yard in length To attach themselves to rocks or the seafloor harden into a silky filament called byssus The byssus of the pen shell makes sea silk The BBC reports that only one person alive knows how to spin this clam fluid into golden twine 62-year-old Chiara Vigo dives up to 17 yards deep into a network of secret underwater caves off the coast of Sardinia As the Italian Coast Guard watches protectively from the shore she may dive 100 times to produce a single ounce of the fibers by trimming the byssus from each bivalve with a tiny scalpel These beard-like growths can be up to six inches in length The BBC further describes how she says a prayer before each dive sacred “Sea Oath” that prevents sea silk from being bought or sold marine biologist Helen Scales tells the story of Giuseppina and Assuntina Pes two sisters on Sant’Antioco who learned the preparation of sea silk from Murroni as did other neighbors and friends who have received less media attention than Vigo the women tease them out with a spiky comb and then spin the filaments to a fine thread with a spindle Lemon juice brightens and clarifies the thread which is anywhere from bronze to blonde in color This allows her to continue to harvest byssus and then push the clams back into the mud Vigo told the BBC that her family has been passing on the tradition of the thread for almost 1,000 years almost nothing is known directly about the history of sea silk before about 1700—though its myth-shrouded history seems to date back much further A post shared by Maria (@mariandsky) on Sep 2 “This fact led and still leads to the misunderstandings dominating the discussion today.” To complicate matters it’s now also used as the general scientific term for some clams’ anchoring filaments mentioned by the Greek writer Alciphron: wool of the sea (Researchers have wondered whether these fabled ovines were the source of the famous Golden Fleece—they now doubt it.) Similar stories appear in the accounts of 13th-century Arab traders: “One of the wonders of this sea is what is told regarding a certain animal which comes out of the water to rub itself on the sure These have the color of gold and the softness of [embroidery silk] … The value of a garment amounts to more than a thousand gold-pieces owing to its beauty and rarity.” Export of this cloth was apparently forbidden About 60 examples of sea silk garments persist in museum collections around the world, most dating from the last few centuries. If current trends in pen shell populations persist, the thread may be cut once and for all. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. this is a place where culinary traditions are still very much alive Sardinians are among the longest-living folk in Europe if not the world – and the wealth of natural ingredients behind their longevity is on full display in the island’s restaurants The Sulcis wine region may not be the most touristed part of Sardinia but this wonderful father-and-son restaurant is well worth a drive from wherever you are There’s an incredible selection of seafood (think tiny crabs from Sant’Antioco island made with co-owner Massimiliano’s hand-foraged myrtle berries Get back to nature with a slap-up meal at this agriturismo on the west coast The Minaudo family are Sardinian through and through and passionate about keeping farming traditions alive – hence their regular sessions with school kids on how they do things A Michelin-starred restaurant on the Costa Smeralda Chef Italo Bassi is known for his inventiveness – from deer tartare to sea-urchin gelato – with a focus on raw seafood Madame Confusion – Tatjana Rozenfeld – is the sommelier who’s also responsible for all the art on the walls which means the food is very different here from the rest of Sardinia This is the place for paella and for fish (unusual in Sardinia where traditional dishes are meat-based) – and this lovely restaurant Try the agliata all’algherese – dogfish slathered in a sweet tomato Courtesy of Sardineri ristorante-pizzeria The west coast of the island around Bosa is one of the most spectacular rollercoaster drives around and this is a worthy spot to catch your breath but the marinated sardines and zucchini tempura are unmissable Sign up to our newsletter to save up to $800 on our unique trips See privacy policy © Yadid Levy / Alamy Stock Photo Even Madonna has been to Su Gologone set around a huge chimney and filled with traditional rustic furniture has been drawing in guests for decades thanks to its hyper-traditional cooking techniques Try the roasted meats – from sausages to kid goat – and add a side of culurgiones dumplings this super-traditional trattoria was opened by renowned chef Roberto Serra in 2020 but the quality of food won it the top three “prawns” star rating in the Gambero Rosso guide for 2021 This lovely restaurant on La Maddalena island has been grilling freshly caught seafood since 1958 lobster and sea urchin scooped straight from the sea – literally as they’re all in the tanks where you can choose the one you want – but don’t miss the aragosta alle sette-otto: an entire lobster This is an updated version of an article originally by Gillian McGuire See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in July Guides & Tips A Guide to the 5 Most Dazzling Views in Catania See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in Autumn Guides & Tips The Best European Cities to Visit in November See & Do The Best Hiking Trails in Italy See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in September Guides & Tips This Is Europe's Ultimate Road Trip See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in Summer Guides & Tips Beat the Crowds with these Alternative Summer Destinations Guides & Tips The Best European Cities to Visit in December See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in October Art A Tour of Bernini's Masterpieces in Rome US: +1 (678) 967 4965 | UK: +44 (0)1630 35000 tripssupport@theculturetrip.com © Copyright 2025 The Culture Trip Ltd Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents George Simion will face Nicusor Dan, a mainstream candidate, in a run-off There are five luxuries it can no longer feasibly afford Friedrich Merz’s career is one of unforced errors and puzzling missteps. But he is serious about Europe Both Donald Trump and Ukraine’s diplomats will consider it a success Crazy!’ A woman points at our bikes and down towards the hill we’ve just climbed and disappears over the rise. What she didn’t know is that we’re 150 kilometres (km) into a 210km but the views more than made up for the challenge of today’s 550 metres of climbing.  Today is day four of our UTracks self-guided cycle and it’s been the most scenic which is close to the southernmost point of Sardinia and there’s no mistaking you’re in the Mediterranean.  Cliffs cleave into emerald waters and bathers lay on sugar-white sand under multi-coloured umbrellas While the northern part of the island – known as a playground for the mega-wealthy with plenty of flash resorts – can be heaving with tourists in the peak season making it the perfect place for those who prefer to pedal than pose on beaches We start our Italian sojourn in Rome to get us in the right time zone and then make the one-hour flight to Sardinia’s main airport it’s a roughly one-hour drive to the starting point of our cycle which is connected by a causeway to Sardinia.  We drive past pink salt ponds and bucolic countryside but the pièce de résistance comes when we check into our room at MuMA Hostel where you can lay in bed and listen to the lap of the ocean and watch boats bob in the sparkling sea. That afternoon we jump on our bikes to test them out and acquaint ourselves with this picturesque village lined with pastel-coloured houses where the smell of salt and fresh seafood fills the air.  we have breakfast al fresco and load our pannier bags to officially begin our cycle It has maps of our rides each day of the week with information on elevation miles and a description of where we’re going making it easy for any level of cyclist to use.  taking us to the village of Calasetta in the far north of Sant’Antioco where we board a ferry with our bikes to Carloforte the only town on the island of San Pietro. This ‘island off an island off an island’ is home to about 6000 people it is lined with pastel-coloured houses and narrow cobbled streets We cycle off the ferry and through the main street and do a loop of the southern part of the island past vineyards rolling fields dotted with farmhouses and roads lined with prickly pear cacti The cars that do pass seem to almost expect you here Back on the ferry to Sant’Antioco we check our distance on Strava and are surprised to see what felt like a short scenic ride was actually 48 kilometres.  The following day we ride a loop around the south of Sant’Antioco reaching the top of a hill where we take in the postcard-worthy views of Maladroxia Beach through a mass of burgundy-coloured bougainvillea This picturesque beach is too good to pass by and we head back down the hill to take a dip in the gin-clear waters and eat gelato forgetting we’d have to make our way back up the almost vertical road We end the day doing 250 metres of climbing which proves to be the perfect taster of the hills yet to come These first few days have given us a great insight into Sardinian life We learn that the island is closer to Africa than Italy “closer to Spanish than Italian” and while many Italians can understand it including a pasta specific to this region called fregola and is often served with clams in a fresh tomato base which seems to be the beverage of choice everywhere we go (other than Aperol spritz) and we learn to become accustomed to the slower pace of life The next day we reluctantly farewell Sant’Antioco and MuMA Hostel MuMA is also home to a museum and the Ceas Isola di Sant’Antioco (Environmental and Sustainability Education Centre) so you leave filled with knowledge about the important role the master shipwrights played in this region we’re headed away from the seaside to the hinterland of the Teulada region We pack our pannier bags and leave our suitcases at the accommodation to follow A blessing of a tour like this means larger bags are transported for you to your next accommodation.   We cycle alongside vast fields of farmland and then wind the narrow streets of the abandoned medieval village of Tratalias it was abandoned in the 1980s after the creation of an artificial lake where water seeped into the homes although there’s not a single person here when we cycle through the eerie streets.  Blink and you’ll miss the sign to this unassuming property It’s a fixed home-cooked menu using ingredients sourced mostly from the farm I am fascinated to learn this area is Sardinia’s newest Blue Zone There are only five original ‘Blue Zones’ in the world (Sardinia’s central region was one of them) and Teulada is Sardinia’s latest region to gain the accolade (November 2023) to describe the regions where people live the longest I head into town where I meet local historian and author and the head of the local council’s cultural sector who tell me it took the local council ten years to prepare for the status But they were confident they’d achieve it.  “It’s not just that locals are living to an old age here,” Bernardini tells me “None of them have had any serious illness It’s rare to see anyone with dementia or Parkinson’s.”  Loi’s extensive research had documented every centenarian He found many similarities in the way they lived that could give away their secrets to longevity.  “People who kept goats lived longer,” he says “So maybe there’s something in the fact they all worked from a young age on the land.”  The following day we cycle along the coastline to Chia where the bluer than blue ocean forces us to take pause it’s a laid-back beach lifestyle with no crowds wander the icing-sugar-like shore and dine on moreish handmade pasta and pizzas bigger than our plates.  There’s no village here – restaurants are dotted around the region We find a local supermarket and buy some Sardinia wine to take home (and drink in moderation because there’s definitely something in the water here bathing on the largely empty stretch of beach or chatting to each other on the street – a common occurrence among all ages.  we leave Chia and ride up the coast past a medieval ‘savoy tower’ built in the 17thcentury and past seemingly endless beaches to the bunting-lined cobbled streets of Pula – and I think I may have just stepped into a fairytale.  Our hotel Villa Madau is in the heart of the city From here we sit on our balcony and watch as people wander the pretty square. We have booked a few extra days here If there is an award for Italy’s prettiest town I spend hours wandering the cobbled streets then sip Aperol spritz and watch the world go by in the little central square We also visit the nearby ancient site of Nora (4th-century BC) Excavations in the 50s revealed a wealthy imperial Roman city We wander the ruins and learn about the way the Romans once lived then bike back to the centre of Pula for more plates of pasta before we have to prepare to go home.  I pine for the hills and those pretty views where fiats whizz tight bends I long to go back and wander the abandoned village of Tratalias I want to linger longer on the sparkling Mediterranean beaches with colours so vivid it’s as if a texter was taken to them And I eye apartments in Pula and imagine myself living right here Cycling by day and savouring the Sardinian cuisine by night.  When we are picked up the next day and leaving the cobbled streets of Pula I am filled with hope that this southern region of the island retains its casual because there are few places that offer such a special place for cyclists ‘You must come back,’ our driver tells us as he pulls our bags from the car at the airport See Utracks for info on this and other cycle tours in Italy around a one-hour drive from Cagliari airport You will need a good level of fitness to complete the week-long cycle Our cycle was a little more than 210 kilometres; however you can cycle this in around 130 kilometres if you stick strictly to the GPS map. Day 1: takes you from Sant’Antioco to the island of San PietroDay 2: is a circuit of southern Sant’AntiocoDay 3: takes you into the hinterland of Teulada – a Blue ZoneDay 4: sees you cycle from Teulada to the seaside region of ChiaDay 5: is a short ride around ChiaDay 6: takes you from Chia to the town of PulaDay 7: is a look around the Pula region By subscribing you become an AG Society member helping us to raise funds for conservation and adventure projects locals organise a parade in honour of Sant'Antioco altars are decorated with cloths adorned with sea silk These golden threads were once made from the filaments of the large pen shells but the species is now critically endangered and with it the skill of crafting sea silk into precious fabrics plus restaurants and hotelsThis article is more than 9 years oldSardinia has fantastic but relatively few Brits come here for sun and sand Italy simply doesn’t do seaside very well: beaches are often given over to hotel and bar concessions with rows of sunbeds differentiated only by the colour of their umbrellas and the trashiness of their euro-pop Only a corner at the least attractive end will be spiaggia libera – for people who just want to rock up and lie on a towel Sardinia isn’t like that: lists of the island’s best beaches run into the hundreds and there are many more unnamed coves and wedges of white silver or golden sand around its 1,000km-plus of coastline Some popular beaches are concessionised – though even these tend to be so spacious that plenty of spiaggia libera remains There are wild beaches for those prepared to tote their own supplies an undeniably beautiful area in the north-east around the town of Porto Cervo millionaire-style development has spread as far as Palau in the north and south towards Olbia from the Catalan-flavoured north-west to the south’s white dunes from the rocky east to sometimes surfable west surprisingly low prices (though accommodation costs jump in August) and a friendly welcome – particularly in these euro-critical times nuraghe (neolithic remains) for history buffs artisanal gelato and great-value wine you’d expect and Sardinia is the perfect holiday island Photograph: AlamyEast of the island’s capital beaches suffer from proximity to the city and the SP71 coast road But an hour’s drive west and south – blue sea on your left flamingo-dotted lagoons on your right – is ridiculously fortunate Chia For a little resort to have not one perfect crescent of pale sand but five can only be called greedy the beaches are backed by a strip of protected dunes so there’s barely a building visible from the shore; most holiday homes and hotels cluster on a hillside a mile away slopes gently into clear water and has several bars (with sunbeds) plus windsurf and kayak hire but the most impressive is huge Su Giudeu to the west its couple of bar concessions lost in the wide soft sands One end is slightly stony at the water’s edge but its intimate size and almost circular shape make up for that steep streets lead to the old town and one of Europe’s oldest churches Young guide Marco told us how there are catacombs under the whole old town and one elderly resident uses those below her house as cool summer sleeping quarters – cheaper than aircon View image in fullscreenSotto Torre Calasetta Photograph: Colin BoulterSouth of the causeway with three white-sand bays in increasing sizes with clear water and no concessions – but it’s worth driving a few kilometres to Le Saline and Spiaggia Grande View image in fullscreenCalasetta’s watch tower Photograph: AlamyCalasetta’s grid of 18th-century streets is also home to a modern art gallery the MACC (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Calasetta a great setting for sunset yoga classes (7.30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays) and there are great views towards San Pietro island from the belevedere where oldsters chat on granite benches still warm from the day’s sun The outdoor restaurant at Torre Chia campsite (pizzas from €4, fish mains from €10, +39 070 92 30 054, via del Porto 21, campeggiotorrechia.com) behind Su Portu beach is a good budget choice Sardinians are less fixated on carb-heavy primi piatti than the mainlanders: it’s normal to leap straight from (substantial) antipasto to the main meat or fish event A shared fish antipasto of six little plates was €9 and felt like a main meal You can dine on fish with your feet almost in the sand at Calasetta’s La Caletta (mains from €15 but we also enjoyed an evening in the hubbub of the central square A few streets back on aptly named Piazza Belly portions at Il Pirata (+39 078 188 025) were huge Try fregola sarda (pasta balls) with seafood sauce View image in fullscreenRestaurant and pool at Hotel Spartivento. Photograph: Colin BoulterIn Chia, Hotel Spartivento (doubles from €130 B&B, hotelspartivento.it) is a little hard to find (turn right past the town’s only big hotel the sprawling Laguna) but worth the effort Low-rise buildings sit on a green slope with views over fields to Su Giudeu beach and some have little stone terraces with handy rosemary bushes for drying your swimwear The outdoor dining room overlooks lawns dotted with trees A free shuttle bus means guests can avoid paying (from €4 a day) to park down by the beach In a quiet residential area west of town, Calasetta’s newest hotel is two-storey Le Sabbie (from €64 B&B, lesabbie.com) with super-friendly staff and 30 doubles but a short walk takes you to Sottotorre beach; the town centre is a short walk in the other direction View image in fullscreenTorre Grande beach is 3km long An hour’s drive north-west from Cagliari is the elegant provincial capital of Oristano and some of the west’s best beaches are on the nearby Sinis peninsula Torre Grande has 3km of south-facing beach This is a good base for older families (the sand shelves steeply under the water – not ideal for toddlers) a long traffic-free seafront full of cyclists and skateboarders and teenagers playing football by the “big tower” San Giovanni di Sinis at the far south of the peninsula is a gentle arc of fine sand backed by low fossil-laden cliffs: perfect for snorkelling Is Arutas glistens white between ochre-coloured rocks the “sand” actually tiny quartz pebbles like so much risotto rice comfy to lie on and doesn’t get everywhere The peninsula’s west-facing beaches are also View image in fullscreenA sandy cove near Su PallosuIn northern Sinis try parking almost anywhere on the Su Pallosu road and pick a footpath down to the shore The corrugated headland hides myriad tiny sandy bays: follow the locals Putzu IduUnpretentious beach restaurants are the norm in Sinis: at Turroi in San Giovanni (via Lungomare +39 334 302 9630) a marinated mullet antipasto was delicious and the pizza the best I’ve had in years (dinner for two with wine €50 including tip) Stella del Mare in Putzu Idu (via Benedetto Sanna +39 342 311 8005) was similar – hectic but smiley Ring ahead to bag a table on the sea-view terrace €10 a day) and explore sandy tracks inland between wheatfields and vineyards edged with palm trees Good road links to Oristano mean it’s possible to see a different Sardinia by staying a little way inland and visiting beaches by car. For atmosphere and setting Santu Lussurgiu, a 1,000-year-old village built into the caldera of a long-extinct volcano 35km from the coast, is hard to beat. Hotel Sas Benas, (doubles from €110, sasbenas.it) in its medieval centre was converted in 2012 from several townhouses Having to abandon the car and find it on foot when the satnav gave up in tiny streets was part of the fun Active families would enjoy Sa Mola (doubles from €80 B&B, bungalow sleeping four from €110 B&B, on Facebook) in nearby Bonarcado at the foot of the Montiferru hills which is gearing up to add horse riding to its walking and mountain biking activities (there’s no pool) Half-board deals are good value (€630 for a week for two in September) and food is very Sardinian – malloreddus pasta (like fat white grubs) and mint and rosemary flavourings A good option in cooler weather is Antiche Terme di Sardara (from €81 a head full-board if you stay three days, termedisardara.it) it has two outdoor pools at a natural 38C – perfect for a warming dip after seaside walks Stays here are quite a retro experience: the dining hall serves good but slightly institutional food Treatments in the brand new wellness centre start at €16 Photograph: /Francesco Iacobelli/JAI/CorbisAcross the north from the Costa Smeralda Alghero is the choice of ordinary Italian families The city’s beaches are a little gritty and noisy near the surprisingly appealing fascist-era town of Fertilia Lazzaretto and Bombarde beaches offer kayaks and windsurfing for those who want them Bombarde does have an ugly hotel at one end with low rocks enclosing little sandy “rooms” and walk through woods (or drive in a 4WD) to wild You may well have the sunset to yourselves but its white sand perfection and proximity to the Porto Torres ferry terminal mean it gets busy squeezed between two harbours; south of it follow signposts to several fine shingle beaches including one called Coscia di Donna (Lady’s Thigh) Family-owned restaurant Il Paguro (via Zara 13 +39 079 930260) sits on a residential street in Fertilia and a starter of “roasted Sardinian pecorino” (€4) is a wicked bowl of runny cheese View image in fullscreenHotel Domominore, near AlgheroKeep life simple with a stay at Hotel Domominore (doubles from €100, hoteldomominore.it) In a rural setting with nice pool and lovely breakfast it’s just 10 minutes from the airport (with very little plane noise) and 20 from the buzz of Alghero Cala Goloritzè is one of Lonely Planet’s European top 10 beaches Photograph: AlamySouth from Olbia you are soon in mountains the coast is so steep that beach access becomes an issue – unless you take to the water Every morning from the town of Cala Gonone boats depart for the beaches around the gulf one of Lonely Planet’s top 10 beaches in Europe and run to strict timetables: a fun alternative is to hire an inflatable (gommone) with outboard motor (from €80 a day an area said to rival the Costa Smeralda for beauty Just to the north is one of my favourite beaches – wide Colostrai with golden sand sloping into water kept warm by a sandbar just offshore View image in fullscreenCala Gonone beach Sardinia Photograph: Liz BoulterIt was near here that we found our private paradise Just before Capo Ferrato village on the SP97 red-and-white panels mark a footpath between an olive grove and a wheatfield leading to the multi-hued sea and white sand of Porto Pirastu but we turned right over some rocks and had the fine beach View image in fullscreenCulurgiones with potatoes Photograph: AlamyFeast on excellent culurgiones (Sardinian ravioli) with cured tuna roe at Sa Serbidora in Arbatax town (Piazza Sindaco Porrà 5 Carnivores will love the typical cena sarda at Torre Salinas’ on-site restaurant: a ham wood-roast suckling pig and/or braised goat and a seadas pastry costs €30 a head with wine View image in fullscreenView of Gulf of Tortolì from Monte Turri restaurant. Photograph: Colin BoulterSpending a few nights at Monte Turri Hotel (doubles from €120, monteturri.com) south of the Orosei gulf The hotel is part of a development that covers a rocky headland near the port of Arbatax A lift takes guests down cliffs to a private swimming spot and there’s a huge spa and a nature park with native animals The views rival anything on the Amalfi coast For a simpler stay, try a beachside campsite. Torre Salinas (one-bedroom cottage sleeping two adults and two children from €55, campingvillagetorresalinas.it) near Muravera View image in fullscreenCottages at Torre Salinas campsiteVillas Direct still has summer availability in several properties on the Costa Rei. Adele (from €451 a week, sleeps 6, villasdirect.com) is 200 metres from the sea The trip was arranged by Sardinia destination specialist Tiziana Tirelli (twitter.com/tiztire), with accommodation provided by the hotels mentioned. Car hire was provided by Villas Direct (villasdirect.com) which has more than 100 properties in Sardinia one of the last byssus weavers in the world is sharing her passion and knowledge on this ancient form of weaving with the public at a Magic Box event at the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta tomorrow Byssus is a silky filament secreted by the Pinna nobilis Byssus can still be found in the south of Sardinia but It takes several hundred dives to collect a few hundred grams of ‘sea-silk’ that Vigo washes carefully and then spins into thread a thread which has beautiful golden shades if looked at it in the sunshine This craft was known by many ancient populations and is even mentioned in the Bible Vigo learnt all about it from her grandmother who made her promise to never sell or commercialise the sea-silk in any way she opened the Museum of Byssus in Sant’ Antioco a small island just off the south-west coast of Sardinia The event will be held at the Italian Cultural Institute in St George Square AFRO Jazz star Dudu Manhega starred at the 'Songs from African and Mediterranean Skies' concert held at Sardinia's Arena Fenicia of Sant Antioco on Friday concluding a "month of jazz and more" on the Italian island Hundreds of people attended the show where Dudu teamed up with Enzo Favata the internationally renowned Sardinian saxophonist You have selected an article from the AllAfrica archive, which requires a subscription. 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To address comments or complaints, please Contact us Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you There was a problem processing your submission If there were an annual prize for the most industrious restaurateurs in London then 2024's trophy would probably be a dead heat between Jason Atherton and the dynamic duo of George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev having only recently unveiled their latest restaurant Fantomas on the King's Road are about to open two new London restaurants in just one week The first one you need to know about is Pinna which is being opened with their friend and business partner Elmira Amdiy This sees the Sardinian chef Achille Pinna from Sant’Antioco on the southwestern coast of Sardinia taking the fore Pinna was also the executive chef at the pair's Wild Tavern restaurant.  They've taken on a site at the entrance to one of our favourite parts of London where they're going to be serving up Sardinian specials to Londoners "It's Sardinia on a plate," they told Hot Dinners house made pasta (think paccheri with zucchini and sea urchin) and the best cuts of beef sourced from Spain to Scotland leans heavily on Italy for influence will feature wine from Sardinia's most important winery Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @pinnamayfair Subscribe to be the first to get the news from Hot Dinners Please enable the javascript to submit this form By signing up you agree to our privacy policy View on Google maps About us  |  Contact Us  |  RSS Feed  |  Site directory  |  Privacy policy  |  Log in/out Join 50,000 other Londoners getting exclusive news and restaurant offers from Hot Dinners. Please enable the javascript to submit this form By signing up you agree to our privacy policy See our previous newsletters here Sardinia is nigh on a tropical paradise and it’s just a two-hour flight from London Luton with easyJet The first Jews arrived here more than two millennia ago having been exiled during the days of the Roman Empire Not much tangible Jewish history is left today although Jewish influences do remain; the Sardinian word for Friday takes its meaning from the Latin cena pura – pure feast – or  Shabbat meal and caputanni an island reached by ferry or car from the south of Sardinia houses probably the most interesting of Jewish artefacts visitors can still see inscriptions written in Hebrew and Latin in one of the only places where these can be found in Italy life became more pleasant for the Jewish community which at one time housed a large synagogue Spain began to persecute its Jewish citizens first by making immigration illegal under pain of death and finally Not until the 19th century did they return with the revolutions in Italian states in 1848 and Jewish emancipation only for the community to be decimated once more by the Shoah Sardinia is seen as an island of opulence and luxury There are plenty of kosher options available and while there is no active synagogue a fledgling Jewish community has begun to emerge We were just a short walk away from the calm which offered plenty of space for our family of four One caveat: this is definitely a place for the more active The hotel’s situation on a steep hill means that views are to die for from almost every standpoint but be prepared to walk off those sumptuous buffets full-board option and you will be greeted with buffets groaning with the freshest antipasti of meat Le Terrazze offers a more intimate à la carte restaurant and the boys enjoying football and archery while they attempted to catch fish in their buckets a destination in itself complete with three pools for a massage that saw me slip into a blissful state of slumber Caron and her family flew to Olbia with easyJet (easyjet.com) from London Luton, with transfers by Just Sardinia (justsardinia.co.uk). A week half-board for a family of four at Park Hotel Cala di Lepre (hotelcaladilepre.com/sardinia) starts from €1,995 (£1,777). 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See this content on Instagram A post shared by the village of villages (@borgodeiborghi) Below is the list of twenty villages listed for the title of "Borgo dei Borghi" of 2023: See this content on Instagram A post shared by the village of villages (@borgodeiborghi) Here the list of villages who won the title in previous editions: The prestigious recognition of The village of villages was awarded this year to Ronciglione In second place was the enchanting location of Sant'Antioco in Sardinia while the third step of the podium was conquered by Salemi The Borgo dei Borghi 2023 is Ronciglione in the province of Viterbo.It was the highest rated borough in the broadcast @kilimangiarorai on RAI3 conducted by @camilaraznovich.Congratulations to #Ronciglione and to all the villages participating in this tenth edition! 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