Athens of Sardinia: Culture and nature

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century Nuoro, capital of the province with the same name situated in the Barbagia district, central Sardinia, has approximately 37 000 inhabitants. At the previous turn of the century it had roughly 7 000 inhabitants. In spite of its then smallness as well as relative isolation due to its inland position, the town gave birth to several authors, poets, painters, sculptors, and other intellectuals who were to become widely known in the years to follow, thus Nuoro’s denomination as Athens of Sardinia. In this article I will present the most renowned of these personalities, before taking the reader on a fictive walk through the town in order to give further evidence of its extraordinarily rich and lively culture. I then intend to show that in spite of its richness culture does not in any way drive out the love and respect for nature among the Nuoresi as has often been demonstrated to be the case in other parts of South Italy. Thus, this article’s subtitle Culture and Nature instead of the more commonly used “culture versus nature” when pointing at the dichotomy between the two domains.