Cagliari

“ Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, a city containing upwards of 35,000 inhabitants, is seen to most advantage when approached from the sea, the campagna in the vicinity being neither fertile nor picturesque. Standing at [409] the head of a noble bay or gulf, twenty-four miles in depth and twelve across, with good anchorage everywhere, its advantageous position pointed out Cagliari as a seat of commerce from the earliest times. ”

“ She beckoned Anania into the tavern, and asked what he would drink.
"Nothing. Good-bye! good-bye."
However, she fetched white wine, and, as he drank, leaned languidly against the bar watching him. She said, "I'm going to Cagliari as soon as I've bought a new dress with gold buttons for the chemisette. I'll go to Cagliari and get a place. We shall meet again. The devil! Here comes Antonino! he's my sweetheart, and is mad jealous of you. Ah, my jewel, good-bye! good-bye!"
Saying this she flung herself upon him with a wild cat spring and kissed him hotly on the lips. ”

“ In the 12th century Musatto, a Saracen, established himself in Cagliari, but was driven out with the help of the Pisans and Genoese. The Pisans soon acquired the sovereignty over the whole island with the exception of Arborea, which continued to be independent. In 1297 Boniface VIII. invested the kings of Aragon with Sardinia, and in 1326 they finally drove the Pisans out of Cagliari, and made it the seat of their government. In 1348 the island was devastated by the plague described by Boccaccio. ”

“ Oh, we go on living in dens like the wild beasts we are. How can I say 'Thou' to your Worship who is a resplendent sun?"
"What? no longer a sugar plum?" said Anania, sipping the coffee from the antique gold sprigged cup and thinking of Aunt Varvara.
"Ah, my dear! forgive me. I always think of you as a little boy. Do you remember the first time you came from Cagliari? ”

“ The national costumes are rarely now seen in the neighbourhood of Cagliari, except at certain festivals, especially that of S. Efisio (May 1-4) at Pula (see Nora) . The methods of cultivation are primitive: the curious water-wheels, made of brushwood with pots tied on to them, and turned by a blindfolded donkey, may be noted. The ox-carts are often made with solid wheels, for greater strength. Prickly pear (opuntia) hedges are as frequent as in Sicily. Cagliari is considerably exposed to winds in winter, while in summer it is almost African in climate. ”

“ Strada Reale from Cagliari to Sassari was reached soon afterwards. About noon, we halted while the horses baited at a roadside locanda, the half-way house to Sassari, standing at the foot of Monte Santo, here reduced to the shape of a round-topped mountain. Lesser hills fell away to the great plain, the slopes and flats being sprinkled with large flocks of sheep. On a hillock two or three miles distant, were the ruins of a Nuraghe, mellowed to a rich orange tint. ”

“ No sooner had her lawyer left her than a letter was delivered to Blanka by one of the hotel servants. It was unsigned, and to the following effect:
"Princess Cagliari:—Be cautious. Prince Cagliari is carrying out a fiendish scheme against you. Like yourself, he is bent on securing a divorce, but only that he may marry you to his protégé and favourite. He is even capable of selling his own wife. Hitherto you have been Cagliari's wife, and the Marchioness Caldariva his mistress; now he wishes to reverse these relations, and make the marchioness his wife, and you his mistress. Be on your guard. ”

“ For several leagues round the hill on which Cagliari stands, the country is almost flat; but, although it appears remarkably fine, it is reckoned prodigiously unhealthy; and it is a known fact, that the night air, in many parts of this island, is a kind of poison to strangers. The harvest is got in. The grapes are ripe; but the vintage has scarce begun. The vines are exactly in the order recommended by Virgil. We rode through several of the vineyards, and found the peasants excessively civil. ”

“ There is a tick-tocking in the little cabin against which I lean. The wireless operator is busy communicating with Trapani, no doubt. He is a fat young man with fairish curly hair and an important bearing. Give a man control of some machine, and at once his air of importance and more-than-human dignity develops. One of the unaccountable members of the crew lounges in the little doorway, like a chicken on one foot, having nothing to do. The girl from Cagliari comes up with two young men—also Sardinians by their thick-set, independent look, and the touch of pride in their dark eyes. ”

“ Se si considera che la francia scarreggia di marina mercantile, relativemente alla sua potenza ed a suoi besogni, non sembrerà per certo un sogno l'asserire che la Sardegna si troverebbe a miglior portata di concorrere a soddisfare le sue bisogne di transporte, principalmente per le coste d'Africa, dove la colonia francese va prendendo sempre maggiore sviluppo, e prenunzia un avvenire fecondo. Si la città di Cagliari e le altre terre littorale possedessero una marina mercantile, quante fonti di richezza non troverebbe la Sardegna lungo le coste d'Italia, di Francia, di Spagna e d'Africa! ”

“ Sassari, the second city of Sardinia, containing a population of some 30,000 souls, has always been a jealous rival of Cagliari, the metropolis, boasting an independent history of its own, of which it has just pretensions to be proud. It was an insignificant village till the inhabitants of Porto-Torres,—the ancient Turris Libysonis, founded on the neighbouring coast by the Greeks, and colonised by the [363] Romans,—were driven by the incursions of the Saracen corsairs, and, finally, by the ruin of their town by the Genoese, in 1166, to seek a refuge further inland. ”

“ The high road between Sassari and Cagliari, called the Strada Reale, runs through the great level of the Campidano for a distance of 140 miles, and as there is a daily communication between the two cities by the well-appointed diligences already mentioned, the journey, unlike others in Sardinia, is performed with comfort and rapidity. But, whatever he may gain by the exchange, the traveller will hardly bid adieu to the mountains and forest-paths of the Gallura and Barbagia without regret. ”

“ Had he not, since the first day, that sunny autumn day when Bustianeddu had led him to the Convent school, had he not been thinking of something very different from mere study?
However Aunt Tatàna's gentle talk calmed his annoyance.
"You are still a child, my son. At seventeen do you want to run about the world alone? Would you die at sea away from every one, or wither in a city which you tell me is as big as a forest? Go to Cagliari. Signor Carboni will give you introductions. He knows everybody at Cagliari, even a Marquis. Well, then, be reasonable. You shall go further when you are older. ”

“ From the ruined castle of San Michele, at the top of a hill about 2 M. 146to the N. of the Piazza d’Armi (p. 145) , we overlook the Stagno di Cagliari (p. 144) and the Campidano, a fruitful, but fever-stricken plain between the bays of Cagliari and Oristano (p. 129) , where the clay-built villages and the cactus hedges recall N. Africa.
See also Baedeker’s Southern Italy. ”

“ This goblet, then, must surpass that one in magnificence, for it was the Veronese's opportunity; and in his soul, genial as it was, some sense of rivalry, born of Titian's assumption of the highest place in Venetian art, would last forever, in spite of the great master's manifest affection. The suggestion of the pearls—an added touch—was indeed due to Paolo Cagliari's over-weening sumptuousness, and the eager young lover was scarcely more anxious for the completion of this gem, upon which his hope depended, than was the great artist who already had all Venice at his feet. ”

“ My own object now being to reach Cagliari, the commander of the Monzambano was kind enough to give me a passage in his fine frigate. I got on board just as the officers and their guests were sitting down to dinner under an awning on the deck. Among them was the old General Della Marmora, whose love of science and devotion [444] to the interests of Sardinia had induced him, though suffering from bad health, to make the voyage for the purpose of witnessing the important experiment. ”

“ In 1479 the native princes were deprived of all independence. The island remained in the hands of Spain until the peace of Utrecht (1714) , by which it was assigned to Austria. In 1720 it was ceded by the latter, in exchange for Sicily, to the duke of Savoy, who assumed the title of king of Sardinia (Cagliari continuing to be the seat of government) , and this remained the title of the house of Savoy until 1861. Cagliari was bombarded by the French fleet in 1793, but Napoleon’s attempt to take the island failed. ”

“ Sardinia seems to have been as little explored by and known to the ancients, as it is to the moderns. The treaty between the Carthaginians and Romans, the year after the expulsion of the Tarquins, proves that the former nation possessed it at that time. Calaris, the present Cagliari, was the principal town in it. From the epithet applied to it by Horace, in one of his odes, Opima, it must have been much more fertile in former times than it is at present; and Varro expressly calls it one of the granaries of Rome. ”

“ Caralis, or Cagliari, the present capital, lies at the bottom of a deep bay looking southwards, and has an excellent harbour, sheltered in all weathers. There are no remains of Phoenician buildings; but the neighbourhood yields abundant specimens of Phoenician art in the shape of tombs, statuettes, vases, bottles, and the like.5134 Caralis was probably the first of the settlements made by the Phoenicians in Sardinia; it would attract them by its harbour, its mines, and the fertility of its neighbourhood. ”

“ Of the prevalence in Sardinia of the Egypto-Phenician mythology, in times the most remote, no one who has examined the large collection of relics in the Royal Museum at Cagliari, or who consults the plates attached to La Marmora's work, can entertain any doubt. But it is surprising to find, among the usages of the Sardes at the present day, a very exact representation of the rites of a primitive religion, introduced into the island nearly thirty-five centuries ago, though it now partakes rather of the character of a popular festival than of a religious ceremony. ”

“ On the night of the 1st of July 1863 Carlisle was bombarded by Confederate troops.
CARLOFORTE, a town of Sardinia, in the province of Cagliari, the capital of the small island (6 by 5 m.) of San Pietro (anc. Accipitrum or Ίερακοννῆσος) off the west coast of Sardinia. Pop. (1901) 7693. It lies on the east coast of the island, 6 m. west by sea from Portoscuso, which is 47 m. west by rail from Cagliari. It was founded in 1737 by Charles Emmanuel III. of Savoy, who planted a colony of Genoese, whose dialect and costume still prevail. ”

“ It numbers about 200 students. The library contains a scanty collection of books, mostly ecclesiastical works. The museum exhibits some few articles of interest, relics of the Phœnician colonisation and Roman occupation of the island, mixed up in the greatest confusion, as in a broker's shop, with meagre specimens of mineralogy and conchology; and cannot for a moment be compared with the museum of Cagliari, rich in valuable remains of antiquity, and admirably arranged. It will be noticed in its proper place. ”

“ To the east of the castle hill and the Marina is the quarter of Villanova, which contains the church of S. Saturnino, a domed church of the 8th century with a choir of the Pisan period. The harbour of Cagliari (along the north side of which runs a promenade called the Via Romo) is a good one, and has a considerable trade, exporting chiefly lead, zinc and other minerals and salt, the total annual value of exports amounting to nearly 11⁄2 million sterling in value. ”

“ You won't speak against religion, I hope?"
"Never mind Cagliari! Every one believes what he can and what he likes. I venerate God more in my heart than all the hypocrites."
These words were somewhat consolatory to the good woman. She told him the Bible story of Eli, and then let him continue the description of his visits.
The kitten had climbed on his shoulder and was licking his ear, tickling him in a way that somehow reminded him of Margherita. He was telling the vulgar joke about Carchide's engagement when Nanna came in, Aunt Tatàna having sent her to buy comfits for her sweetmeat. ”

“ Sacked and laid in ruins by the Arabs, some iron rings on the Stagna di Diana, the ancient port, large blocks of stone on the site of a mole at the mouth of the Tavignano, some arches, a few steps of a circus, with coins and cameos occasionally turned up, are the sole vestiges of the Roman colonisation in Corsica. Their only road led from Mariana by Aleria to Palæ, a station near the modern Bonifaccio, from whence there was a trajectus to Portus Tibulus (Longo Sardo) , in Sardinia; and the road was continued through that island to its southern extremity, near Cagliari. ”

“ Anthropologists, indeed, have recently observed a large proportion of individuals of exceptionally small stature, not found in Sardinia only, but elsewhere in south Italy also; though in Sardinia they are distributed over the whole island, and especially in the southern half. In the province of Cagliari 29·99% of the recruits born in 1862 were under 5 ft. 1 in., and in that of Sassari 21·99%, the percentage for ten provinces of south Italy being 24·35. ”

“ A wonderful abundance of food, glowing and shining. We are rather late for fish, especially on Friday. But a barefooted man offers us two weird objects from the Mediterranean, which teems with marine monsters.
The peasant women sit behind their wares, their home-woven linen skirts, hugely full, and of various colours, ballooning round them. The yellow baskets give off a glow of light. There is a sense of profusion once more. But alas no sense of cheapness: save the eggs. Every month, up goes the price of everything.
"I must come and live in Cagliari, to do my shopping here," says the q-b. ”