Ciao, HIVE people!
Today I’m finally joining the #WinterChallenge by Worldmapping. For this occasion, I want to share with you an adventure that brought me immense joy.
One Sunday, during a particularly rough period in my life, my brotherly friend Nhov — who’s also a member of this community — decided to take me on a journey to the heart of Sardinia, towards the mountains, with the goal of reaching the island’s highest peak (1834 meters).
A little context: in the southern part of the island, where I live, it's almost impossible to see snow. At the time of this trip, it had been five years since I saw my last snow, making this adventure all the more thrilling.
In Italian, the peak is named in memory of Alberto Ferrero della Marmora (1789–1863), a general, cartographer and scientist who documented the island in several important 19th-century literary works. In Sardinian, the location is called Perdas Crapìas, meaning "cracked stones," due to its schist rocks, a very brittle type of stone.
On clear days, from this lofty point, you can admire with your eyes the entire island of Sardinia, from the hills of Cagliari to the mountains of southern Corsica, and even see the Mediterranean Sea in all directions.
But that wasn't the case for us. When we checked the weather forecast for the area the night before leaving, this is what we saw:
The next morning, however, the situation seemed calmer.
From the area where we live, it took more than two hours by car to reach Desulo, the small town closest to the mountain we intended to climb. Desulo is a very picturesque place, surrounded by vast, untouched forests, and located in the most authentic region of Sardinia, Barbagia.
In other parts of the island, especially along the coasts, the cultural identity of the inhabitants has been significantly diluted by the influx of people from the mainland — mainly workers, miners, lumberjacks, soldiers and prisoners.
Barbagia, with its rugged mountains that resisted Roman armies and many subsequent invasions, continues nowadays to fight its most challenging battle: the battle against globalization and conformity, forces that threaten to suffocate unique cultures and civilizations of the world.
View of the mountains from the road to Desulo.
Masks play a very important role in Sardinian tradition, often connected to values and elements that are much older than Christianity, so ancient that they are no longer even remembered with certainty.
In any case, when they are hung outside the door, these mask serve to chase away evil spirits, envy or other negative influences. Their creepy or mysterious shapes are designed to scare these entities away.
After a brief walk through the center of Desulo, we resumed our way towards the mountain. As the road ascended, the landscape became wilder. In many cases, we encountered herds of animals — pigs, goats and cattle — that are branded (so that the owner can be recognized) and then left free in the countryside.
It's a mystery to me how each owner can be able to find and reunite their animals!
Sometimes we stopped to take photographs.
Our journey was slowed down by a few mistakes, sometimes we took the wrong path, but it wasn't just that. One of the roads that would have brought us very close to Punta La Marmora was blocked by water due to the melting snow; we tried to cross it and almost got stuck on the rocks of the stream.
We had to find another route, which unfortunately cost us some valuable time.
Eventually, we reached a new trail that started from the parking lot of the Su Filariu bar-restaurant, at an altitude of 1370 meters.
To reach the top, we had to climb an additional 450 meters.
From here, our hike towards Punta La Marmora began.
It was already afternoon, and we immediately realized that we wouldn't have managed to reach Punta La Marmora.
We had started too late and faced too many delays. The darkness was setting in, and if we had stubbornly insisted on reaching the top, we risked to get trapped up there in the darkness, maybe with another storm at night.
At one point during our hike, we saw a building.
It was the old Sa Crista refuge, located at over 1500 meters above sea level. This charming structure, very close to the path leading to Punta La Marmora, once served hikers and travelers very well. In the past decades, it provided a place to eat, wash and sleep, or just warm up in front of the large fireplace in the main hall.
Unfortunately, it seems to have been abandoned for several years now. The building has fallen into disrepair, damaged by vandals and frequently occupied by cows that roam freely in the area.
It would be wonderful to see this structure working again, restored and reopened to the public. However, so far, the local authorities' attempts to find a new manager have come to nothing.
The image of this ruined building made me feel a bit sad. It had a truly gloomy, ghostly aura in the profound silence of the mountain.
We decided to stop here for a while, to rest, eat a brioche, and drink some water.
We didn’t reach our goal, but truthfully, I’ve never cared much about goals, results, or calculations. I’m a poet, not a businessman or a mathematician. I live for beauty, for savoring, for knowing and understanding, for learning, for losing myself in what I see and what I feel.
I live for living itself.
This one-day journey didn’t give me the mountain’s peak, but it gave me a few hours of peace in untouched, ancient and pristine nature, in the snow-covered kingdom of the golden eagle. It gave me a profound connection to nature — panting in the wind with my legs sinking into the snow, or stopping during the descent to drink from a water stream, feeling life flow within me.
It provided me the comfort that only a brotherly friend can give you, when the rest of the world seems indifferent.
I’ll reach Punta La Marmora another day.
Do you like mountains and snow?
Feel free to share your experience, or any similar one, or an emotion that my article has stirred in your heart.
For now, as always, thank you for your time, your attention and your support!
See you soon on the road,
Alessandro
P.S. Don't forget to follow Nhov here. He's not only one of my best friends, but also the person who inspired me with his travels since we were very young, and with which I had some of my best travel experiences ever.
Needless to say, he's the author of all the photos where I’m pictured.
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