A Miner Bicycle in San Sperate, Sardinia · Mar 17, 12:50 AM by James Martin
(For those of you who think the title is one of the numerous undiscovered errors scribbled incoherently by the tottering fool who is the writer of this blog, rest assured that it was not meant to read “A Minor Bicycle in San Sperate, Sardinia.” Or maybe it was. Read on to decide.)
One this day, the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, we celebrate the rough cultural past of Sardinia, once a land of mines, malarial swamps and stone towers.
The picture above shows a bicycle, embedded in a wall of San Sperate, a village known for its murals, vegetables and fruits (especially peaches, but this time of year oranges).
We were being driven around the village by sculptor Pinuccio Sciola when he stopped the car and pointed to the bicycle above while I snapped a picture. “This bicycle belonged to a miner who used it to get to his job in the mines. He cycled 100 km every day each way. One day he got so tired he had to rest, so he put down the bike and fell asleep under a tree. When he awoke, he didn’t remember whether he was coming or going, so he went home and missed his day of work.”
Let’s raise a glass to difficult lives celebrated uniquely.
(More on San Sperate)
A Miner Bicycle in San Sperate, Sardinia originally appeared on WanderingItaly.com Mar 17, 2011, © James Martin, 
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Sartiglia and Stars in Oristano, Sardinia · Mar 8, 10:55 AM by James Martin
This medieval carnevale game is easy. You get into an intricate costume (as does your horse), you ride in a parade through town to a starting point, then, when it’s your turn, you gallop down a street mounded with sand as fast as you can and do what you see in the picture, namely skewering a hanging star, which has a hole of about one inch in the center, using your foil.
It takes quite a bit of skill. And the horse has to cooperate, too.
Otherwise:
Sartiglia and Stars in Oristano, Sardinia originally appeared on WanderingItaly.com Mar 08, 2011, © James Martin,
Carnevale in Cagliari - Felliniesque? · Mar 6, 01:48 PM by James Martin
If you stand in front of the train station long enough, characters appear. Cagliari’s carnevale parade this evening was colorful, interesting, and weird—everything a carnevale parade should be, doncha think?
Carnevale in Cagliari - Felliniesque? originally appeared on WanderingItaly.com Mar 06, 2011, © James Martin,
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