Me and Sardinia
By Roberta
May 27, 2019
One of the most fascinating places in Sardinia, is
immersed in a surreal and timeless scenario. It is the small fishing village of
San Salvatore, a few kilometers from Cabras, long used as a film set for
Italian western films of the 1960s and 1970s and which each year carries on the
centuries-old tradition of the "barefoot race".
The village and
its history
The medieval village, whose current appearance dates back
to the Spanish domination, owes its name to the church of San Salvatore, which
was built in the 17th century, built on a prehistoric sanctuary carved into the
rock. Around the church there are some rows of cumbessias, small stone houses
made up of one / two floors that served as accommodation for pilgrims during
the novena of San Salvatore, the most important village festival.
Between the sixties and seventies, with the advent of
western cinema, the village served as a film set for numerous films, given its
characteristic streets reminiscent of Mexican landscapes. The village was
rented to film producers, becoming a village in Arizona or New Mexico in films
such as the 1968 'Garter Colt'.
The posada of the
San Salvatore film set
The church of San
Salvatore and the ancient water cults
The church, preceded by a small porticoed area, is
characterized by a series of hypogeum environments used and enlarged starting
from the Nuragic era. Among these an ancient sacred well linked to the water
cults and some rooms obtained during the 4th century AD, which show the signs
of numerous cultural and religious stratifications. Among these are some Arabic
inscriptions reciting verses from the Koran, combined with images of Mars and
Venus, demonstrating how the area has been affected by various frequentations
and different cultures, always remaining a point of reference for the place.
After the nuragic use, in the Punic period the area was
dedicated to the god Sid, warrior and healer, and in the same wake the Romans
installed the cult of Aesculapius there.
From the 4th century AD C. the hypogeum was transformed
into an early Christian sanctuary in honor of the Savior. Some altars with a
large nuragic basin, reused as a holy water font, are still present in two
rooms.
Not far from the church are the remains of an ancient
thermal complex, today called Domu ‘e Cubas, which dates back to the imperial
age with a polychrome mosaic floor, and the traces of an ancient barn from the
2nd century BC
The barefoot race
In the nine days preceding the first Sunday of September
the village comes alive and the celebrations in honor of Christ the Savior comes
to life, culminating in the famous "barefoot race", one of the most
evocative and heartfelt identity events in Sardinia.
The procession involves more than 800 participants in
white outfits, which accompany the simulacrum of the saint from the church of
Santa Maria Assunta di Cabras to the township barefoot on a long dirt road and
bring it back to the parish the following day. The path, 7 km long, takes place
entirely barefoot, to commemorate a legendary event and perpetuate the popular
devotion to the Savior over time.
In 1619 a group of fishermen who lived in the village,
surprised by the imminent Saracen invasion of the coast, ran barefoot to Cabras
to save the precious simulacrum.
To tackle the long run, the fishermen tied branches to
their bare feet, so as to raise as much dust as possible and look so much more
numerous. The stratagem worked in full, as the Saracens, frightened at the idea
of being in front of a large army, withdrew. The village and the statue were
saved. Since then, every year, in memory of the miraculous episode, to repeat
the vow made to the saint, the ritual is repeated again. And with well-defined
rules: there are 14 groups of curridoris, composed in turn of 14
"mute", each of five runners. Seven run on Saturday and seven on
Sunday. Fate decides who brings the saint to the village of San Salvatore and
who brings him back to Cabras.
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