Details and description
Anyone interested in the local customs and culture associated with an agro-pastoral tradition and historic craftsmanship, should definitely pay a visit to the “Su Magasinu de su Binu” Ethnographic Museum. The Museum consists of an indoor space, a store, and an open area, mimicking the classic layout of a Sardinian “medau” or farm. Inside, you can see the tools once used by artisans such as carpenters, coopers and blacksmiths, and also a large number of implements used for working in the fields. The world of the housewife is represented in objects used for preparing food such as flour, semolina, bread and the typical local pasta. There is a display related to weaving, but also to working with byssus, the so-called “silk of the sea”. This fine fibre is obtained from the “Pinna Nobilis”, a protected species of bivalve, and the Island of Sant’Antioco has a long tradition in this very special craft.
The reuse of ancient tombs
The inhabitants of Sant’Antioco have a very close bond with their Underground Village, an iconic place in the history of the town.
This very special village was created by reusing underground tombs, dating from the Punic era of between the 6th and 3rd centuries B.C. These were subsequently occupied by some of the poorest people in society, who adapted and furnished them to make basic homes. From the second half of the eighteenth century onward, groups of people who had previously left the island to take refuge in the safer inland areas of Sulcis, were attracted back by land concessions, offered to help repopulate the island after decades of raids by Saracen pirates.
When you visit these humble and poignant dwellings, with all their furnishings, kitchenware and everyday objects, you are transported back to the simple life of the time.
Because of this association, the inhabitants of Sant’Antioco are still given the nickname of “gruttaius” (cave-dwellers), emphasising a very particular period in their not so distant history.
The bulwark of resistance: Fort su Pisu
Imagine you are standing with the wind in your hair and a spectacular view of the lagoon and the Gulf of Palmas. You are about to explore one of the most emblematic places on Sant’Antioco. This is the Savoy Fort, a monument that dominates the town, and which has become a symbol of the resistance of the local community.
The fortification was built between 1813 and 1815, to provide shelter for soldiers and local inhabitants menaced by frequent raids by Barbary pirates, who plundered villages along the Sardinian coast.
The rock on which the fort stands was once the site of a nuraghe, still partly visible, and later the base for a Punic fortification.
Inside the fort, you can still see a small powder magazine for storing rifles, cannons and gunpowder, a sentry box and a cistern for collecting rainwater.
What are you waiting for? The Fort reveals the more recent history of the island and its heroes.
