Carnival

The land of the Mamuthones and Issohadores In the Sardinian hinterland, in the heart of Barbagia, Mamoiada is a municipality steeped in traditions and mysteries. The huge Mamuthones masks should mark the first step on your exploration. Together with the Issohadores, the Mamuthones are the traditional Carnival masks in Mamoiada. To learn more, you can visit the Museum of Mediterranean Masks and explore one of the craft workshops where masks are still made by hand. Every 17th January, on the feast day of Sant’Antonio Abate, the Sa Prima Essida festival marks the “first outing” of the year of the masks of the Mamuthones and Issohadores, who dance through the streets and around the fires lit by each district to pray for a good harvest. Diving deeper into local tradition, you can visit the Sa Perda Pintà, a stele dating to 3000 BC, decorated with concentric circles and cupels. Equally fascinating is the domus de janas of Sa’e Mazzozzo rock-cut chamber tomb with its menhir. Take the chance to wander through the alleyways of the old town, admiring the many murals and sculptures that adorn it. In the heart of the village is the old stone fountain called Su ‘Antaru Vetzu.

On the edge of the Flumendosa alluvial plain, in a fertile area sheltered from the winds and dotted with fishponds, Muravera was populated since antiquity, but over the centuries incursions from the sea and floods caused by the river made it inhospitable. Today, having closed some mines, it lives off agriculture, in particular the cultivation of citrus fruits, celebrated in early spring in a lively festival. In the 1970s, the building boom along the coast made the area touristy, with beautiful beaches and crystal clear sea. In the village are the late-Gothic 16th century parish church of St Nicholas and a small centre with typical low courtyard houses. The Mif-Museo dell'Imprenditoria femminile (Museum of Female Entrepreneurship), a museum system in Muravera, has two venues dedicated to two symbolic women of the country. At 99 Via Marconi, in front of the Church of S. Nicola, the former Carabinieri barracks houses the Women's Museum Francesca Sanna Sulis - centred on the figure of this 18th-century entrepreneur active in the field of silk production, spinning and weaving - and is also the venue for temporary art exhibitions. Not far away, on Via Speranza, an 18th-century courtyard house is now home to the Candelai Museum, which is inspired by Aunt Savina's activity of making votive candles. Particularly eagerly awaited by locals and an attraction for tourists is the Maskaras Summer Carnival, in early August: an opportunity to admire traditional Sardinian costumes and masks from all over the island. At the end of August, on the other hand, the feast of St Augustine takes place, one of the most important in the area: the processions and dances are attended by groups in traditional costume, the traccas, or carts pulled by oxen yokes that have largely disappeared elsewhere, appear, and the masters of the launeddas, the ancient three-reed wind instrument, perform.