9 Splendid Sardinian Female Characters 0 Comments

They are women who have enriched the era in which they lived, each in their own way, with an unprecedented image of Sardinia’s female figure. Some better known, some less so, are the precious gems of the treasure chest of Sardinian history.

1. Giolzia the Warrior Princess (about 950/1000) 

Giolzia was a young woman who had little to do with the girls of her time. She was head and shoulders above the crowd. She was a great horsewoman and toured the whole kingdom to get to know it better. She was an administrator, managing the revenue of the kingdom with awareness. She was a warrior, leading her troops against the judge of Gallura.

2. Eleanor of Arborea (1347-1403)

History and legend both tell of this exceptional woman. She became a judge and promulgated the new "Carta de Logu" (charter of the people) which with its 198 chapters is considered "the greatest legislative monument of medieval Sardinia".

3. Grazia Deledda (1871-1936)

A small but immense woman, the only one of her gender to have received the Nobel Prize for literature, in 1926, in Stockholm, where she gave an unforgettable acceptance speech for the prize she received.

4. Edina Altara (1898/1983)

Beautiful woman, she was an illustrator, ceramist, decorator and painter, creative, multifaceted, singular, she was able to create progressive objects,  new  for the times in which she lived.

5. Maria Lai (1919-2013)

She wanted to mend the world with the woven art of her threads… an image bringing us back to Ariadne's thread, to Penelope who spun, but above all brings to the magic of the Janas, the benevolent fairies of Sardinian folklore who spent their time spinning with a golden loom.

6. Maria Carta (1934-1994)

With a voice that possessed the warm echoes of the scorching sun and the gloomy cave’s depths, she sang of Sardinia as no woman had ever done before her.

7. Clara Vigo (1955)

The last master of Sardinian byssus, the silk of the sea, which, as she likes to say, "is not marketed, sold or bought: it is given away".

8. Annarita Serra (1960?)

From the Sardinian Sea he takes everything returned to the beach,  transforming them into beautiful paintings, fulfilling the two dreams of her life: working with art and saving the sea from the plastic that makes it die.

9. Francesca Lai (1993)

She is a singer, author, composer and conservatory graduate musician. She was able to exhibit in the most important theaters of Sardinia, taking part in some operas, including Bizet's "Carmen" at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari. We found her magnificent Sardinian Hallelujah.

“Mi dispraghidi ma deu seu... femmina sarda!!! Sarda, Barrosa, pottu coru, crabeddu e anima! Seu terra, soi, bentu e mari ma puru perda, unu Nuraghe e, chi ci scudisi, scudisi e ti squartarasa beni a Terra! (Sandra Giglio)

(I'm sorry but I'm... a Sardinian woman!! Sardinian, Stubborn, I have heart, brain and soul! I am earth, sun, wind and sea but also stone, a Nuraghe and if you bump into it, you will bump into it and collapse on the ground!!!)

Written by Daniela Toti

Foto by Carlo Marras from the website of La Nuova Sardegna