If you wish to understand Sardinia you should close your eyes and breathe. Straight away, with the salt, the lentisk tree smell will break on, together with the myrtle, the broom, the arbutus and the wild olive.
Just a moment after, from the hills, you’ll smell the sweet aroma of almonds and the zesty smell of vineyards in the sun. Then, from far away, moss and blackberries, cork, coal, raw wool and velvet, fire, iron and leather of galloping horses. And a light fragrance of old bread, thin as music paper.
If you get to touch Sardinia you will find that it is made of clear sand, raw earth bricks and stone towers that guard the secrets of the stars. And if you learn to brush stones with due delicacy, you’ll be able to hear clearly the sound of turquoise water.
And if you wish to know the authentic taste of Sardinia you should get as close as possible to the woods, the rocks and the fertile banks of the big lagoons. If you follow this advice, you will discover new flavors, and probably will live longer.
If you try to watch the colors of Sardinia you will remain dazzled, inevitably. You should try to grasp the reflection in an indirect way, through the texture of a carpet, or a wedding ring, or a well-told story.
It is said that in the archaic song of the Sardinian shepherds, when the voices of the four tenors are perfectly blended, a mysterious sound emerges distinctly, the so-called ‘fifth voice ‘, which is the sum and synthesis of the other four.
And there are moments on this enchanted island where suddenly you feel overwhelmed by a mysterious sense, the one which is the sum and synthesis of the other five. We could call it the sense of the soul, or the sense of belonging to the land. Or, simply, the deep sense of Sardinia.
written by Paolo Zucca, screenwriter and film director
