SPIRIT WAYS ITINERARY

Mother Nature gave the ancient people of Sardinia an instinctive sense of spirituality and a love of harmony, beauty, poetry and music. Although they were a people of fearsome warriors and pirates, each of the monuments they built, from 3000 BC to 1000 AD, reflects the sensitivity to landscape of an exceptional and intelligent people. For the proto-Sardinians living on the island of Sardinia in prehistoric times, contact with the supernatural was something instinctive, poetic, aesthetic and connected with a trusting friendship with God, the greatest friend of all, with whom they shared the joys of life, contemplating the movement of clouds, the sound of rain, birdsong and family love. The early Sardinians were, from neolithic times, the first people to adopt monotheism. They may already have been monotheists ten thousand years ago in the paleolithic, at the end of the last ice age. This shows that the Sardinian people were the custodians of agrarian rituals (derived from growing grasses) before any other Mediterranean people. Pragmatic and technically skilled, they knew how to work iron and build, and knew about the movement of the stars and the solstices and equinoxes. They were among the first to practice the cult of dead heroes and the first to believe in sleep as a cure for mental disorders. They were also the first to collect rain and spring water in sacred wells, around which a cult of water was centred (before the Middle Eastern institution of baptism). Before scientists were aware of the power of the earth’s magnetic field, they knew that brief exposure to this source of natural energy could relieve some illnesses, while, on the other hand, being exposed to the energy source for a long time could cause the same illness to worsen. The people of that time also drew the attention of their contemporaries to landscape features. Their megalithic monuments, known as ‘giants’ tombs’, combined three elements in one: A) They showed the area, a perennial centre of magnetic energy B) They were oriented towards an astral position, usually connected with the spring equinox or certain phases of the moon C) They commemorated heroes who had died in battle defending their people, and greatly respected village leaders. A sense of harmony and beauty had a fundamental role in the erection of towering standing stones, unique architectural symbols which are a distinctive feature of the giants’ tombs of northern Sardinia. The ancient monuments of southern Sardinia have a different appearance: their harmony lies in their power. These different concepts reveal a surprising fact - there were two distinct ethnic groups building in Sardinia in the third millennium BC, showing that the proto-Sardinians knew how to cooperate and pass building expertise based on mysticism and liturgical rituals down through the generations. The two building techniques reflect the same synthesis. Seen from above, the tombs of both the north and the south are shaped like a bull’s head. The centre of the recess, in the hollow formed by the rounded shape of the horns, is the place where neolithic patients drank a sleeping potion requested from the shaman or priest and lay down to sleep, dreaming of the hero who had been evoked. While sleeping they entrusted him with their nightmares, awaking soothed and reassured. The same rite took place at Mont’Essu di Villaperuccio, which encloses in its main horseshoe-shaped valley, the tombs of heroes from all over the Mediterranean. (Similar rituals, known as incubation rites, are still practiced in coastal areas of West Africa.) The Altra Sardegna tourism association offers visitors the Spirit Ways itinerary visiting the most spiritual and magical places throughout the island. PLACES VISITED ON THE SPIRIT WAYS ITINERARY Palau: Limizzani giants’ tomb (facing east)   Arzachena: Coddu Vecchiu and Li Lolghi giants’ tombs (facing east) Dorgali: S’Ena ‘E Thomes giants’ tomb (facing east)   Goni: the Pranu Mutteddu menhirs, from the third millennium, show a knowledge of the movements of the stars Quartucciu: giants’ tomb (facing north-east) Carbonia: Monte Sirai, the temple of the sun in neolithic times, later modified by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. Fluminimaggiore: temple of Antas. Villaperuccio: Mont’Essu neolithic necropolis (facing south west). Santadi: Barrancu Mannu giants’ tomb (facing west). The ten places give visitors spiritual well-being, inner peace, a sense of harmony and joy. Spending around twenty minutes near each tomb has a healing effect on the body. Longer visits are not recommended since the strong natural magnetism may be harmful. Visitors are advised not to return there for at least twenty days. Mont’Essu is a good place to take a fresh look at your reasons for living, helpful for those in an existential crisis. For more informations contact: Elio Fanunza (Chairman of " L’Altra Sardegna " Tourism and Cultural Association) Tel e Fax +390781/957021 Cell.+39348/1435961 Nuxis Caterno Cesare Bettini Tel.+390781/63164 Cell. +39339/7892980 Carbonia 360° Cell +39334/3850048 Palau SardegnaSud Tel.+39070/307982 Cagliari Grotte "Is Zuddas" Tel.+390781/955741 Santadi Coop. Mediterranea Tel.+390781/64040 Mont'Essu Monte Sirai Augusto Mocci Tel.+390781/62193 Carbonia   ‘L’Altra Sardegna’ guarantees the quality of the following hotels along the route - for information see www.sardegnadelsudovest.it or contact us at   HOTEL TELEPHONE CONTACTS HOTEL S'ADDE (Dorgali) +39 0784/94412 HOTEL PHILLYREA (Belvì) +39 0784/629200 HOTEL SPORTING TREXENTA (Senorbì) +39 070/9809383 HOTEL PUNTA GIARA (Sant'Anna Arresi) +39 0781/66105 HOTEL PERDA RUBIA (San Giovanni Suergiu) +39 0781/699038 HOTEL SOLKI (situato nel centro di Sant'Antioco accanto alla marina) +39 0781/800521 RISTORANTE ETNICO LETIZIA (Nuxis) +39 0781/698207 BED&BREAKFAST TELEPHONE CONTACTS DOMUS DE JANAS (Gonnesa) +39 392/3849012 ROSA DEI VENTI (Sant'Antioco) +39 0781/828010 LA PINETA (Sant'Antioco) +39 0781/802018 GARNI' S'ANNINNIA (Gonnesa) -