Panorama Photo

The Supramonte is perhaps the wildest region of Sardegna and, presumably, of the whole Italy. It is so wide that is impossible to encompass it satisfactorily in one single photo. The present work shows its inner side; I am leaving behind my back the most celebrated part, namely, the one where the mountains descend wildly to the sea with stunning canyons and vertical walls which are a paradise for rock climbers and/or super-skilled trekkers. A name which is also a symbol is the Aguglia de Goloritzè, Aguglia being the Sardinian translation of «Aiguille», and Goloritzè being one of the most beautiful and isolated beaches of the Tyrrhenian sea. This rock tower is also known as «the mountain with the most difficult normal route in Italy», this route being rated VI+ and VII.
The Sardinian Holy Grail for climbers, however, remains Punta Cusidore, shown in the image: namely, although rather neutral from this side, it throws an impressive vertical 700 m limestone wall on the Oliena side.
On the other hand, as often happens, the highest peak of the region, Punta Corrasi, is devoid of any climbing interest, being an easy walk from a nearby pass which can be reached from Oliena by a 4WD (indeed, a strong one is needed) or, as in my case, by a bicycle (indeed, a *very* strong one is needed). On Punta Corrasi I found only fog, but luckily here we have Giuseppe Marzulli: see N.5064.
Only slightly hidden in my image, there is also the famous Monte Tiscali, which in spite of its 519 metres is one of the sybols of the island: namely, its summit hosts an enormous «dolina», i.e. karstic hole, which in turn hosts a mysterious «nuragic», i.e. prehistoric, settlement.
People interested in these subjects can look at the album picasaweb.google.com/albertopedrotti/Sardegna, where I am slowly publishing some material.
I end my description with a quotation from «Viaggio in Italia», by Guido Piovene, an impressive travel report dated 1957 (!!) which, aged as it may seem, remains one of those cultural monuments for which, alas, nowadays we have so often to look back at past ages:
«This part of Sardegna is so charming that perhaps I have left it with more pain that any other part of Italy. Namely, while leaving it one does not have the feeling to move from a part of the world to another but, perhaps, to move from one world to a different one, ore even from an age of our life to a different one».
Larger version: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/84738886