P6 | PURSUITS G THE GLOBE AND MAIL | SATURDAY,MAY 11, 2019

The Italian island of has an incredible coastline that makes for spectacular hikes. PHOTOS BY SUZANNE MORPHET/ THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Seduced by Sardinia

When a hiking trip along a wild Italian coastline goes sideways, Suzanne Morphet trades climbs for culture and ends up with a different kind of adventure

e’ve been walking gently moiada, we tour the Mask Mu- uphill for a couple of seum, where examples of the Whours when we come to a dour, black masks that men wear wall of grey limestone rock soar- every January for the Festival of ing into a brilliant blue sky. Saint Antonio are on display. Our guide, Mik, stops – not to Along with masks, men dress up let us rest or to take in the view, in sheepskins and tie 30 kilo- though it is stupendous. Sardi- grams of cowbells to their backs nia’s ruggedly gorgeous Orosei before parading sadly but noisily coast fans out below us, its dark- through the streets, flanked by green oak and juniper forests other costumed men carrying spilling down to a turquoise lassos. This tradition is so old shoreline. In the distance, we can that no one knows when it start- see Pedra Longa, a rocky spire ed or even what it means. jutting out of the water, where This is certainly not the sunny we were dropped off by boat ear- day on the sparkling Mediterra- lier this morning. nean that I had anticipated. Yet I No, the reason we’ve stopped sense that I’m seeing the real Sar- is to climb that wall for an even dinia, an island with a rich histo- better one. ry, ancient rituals and strong su- We pull on helmets and har- perstitions. (Even today, Sardi- nesses, then rope up. It’s the first nian men are known to hold of many challenges we expect to their genitals when they think face on the little-known, but ex- someone is giving them the mal- traordinarily beautiful Selvaggio occhio – the “evil eye.”) Blu, the “Wild Blue” hiking route Irecall something Mik said the that hugs 60 kilometres of Sardi- first night: “This is not an island nia’s eastern coastline. of fishermen, it’s an island of “Some say it’s the hardest hike shepherds.” He added that, his- in , others say the hardest torically, Sardinians had so little hike in Europe,” Mik says when interest in the sea that they the six of us gathered the previ- didn’t even name the beaches, ous evening in the small seaside but used one word to refer to all village of Santa Maria Navarrese. of them. Yet, most tourists visit “The biggest problem here is to only Sardinia’s coastline. Are find your way. You have to they missing the essence of the scramble, you have to use via fer- island, I wonder? rata, use ropes.” I’m pondering all this over Ifirst heard about Selvaggio lunch at a local enoteca when my Blu 10 years ago from one of mood brightens. Surrounded by Mik’s mountain-guiding col- cases of Sardinian wine, we enjoy leagues in Italy’s Dolomites, roasted pecorino cheese drizzled where I spent a week climbing a with honey on pane carasau.A variety of via ferratas – routes grilled-cheese sandwich at home with iron rungs and cables – that never tasted so good. were originally created to help Later, we sample more wine at soldiers onto the mountain tops Giuseppe Sedilesu, where canno- during the First World War. Sel- nau grapes – the Sardinian ver- vaggio Blu sounded even better, sion of grenache – are grown or- with promises of a swim in the ganically and fermented natural- warm Mediterranean at the end ly. “Everyone produced their of each day. Last year, the route wine like that, like their grandfa- turned 30 and I turned twice ther’s,” says Elisabetta Gungui- that. It was time to tackle what Sedilesu, who married into the promised to be the adventure of second generation of the wine- alifetime. producing family. The Gulf of Orosei is only a few The next day, the rain pum- hours south of Sardinia’s better Punta Giradili proves easier than which has a limestone base and pear to hang precariously from mels down even harder, so we known Costa Smeralda, where it looks. Long ago, shepherds pointed roof made of juniper exposed mountain faces. climb back into Mik’s van, this European playboys come every wedged juniper branches into wood. Tonight, we’ll feast on This landscape feels dark and time to visit one of the largest summer to drop anchor from crevices to give themselves foot- homemade pasta, pane carasau – it’s not just because of the weath- caves in Europe. some of the biggest pleasure holds while climbing these the paper-thin bread of Sardinia er. The region has a long history After a dizzying, 800-metre boats in the Mediterranean – and mountains, quite likely chasing –and plenty of roast pork before of banditry (Barbagia is a deriv- climb on a zigzagging road to outwit the Italian paparazzi in errant goats. Now, we use these throwing our sleeping bags on ative of “barbarians”) and Orgo- through the clouds, we arrive at their wake. But this coastline same bits of weathered wood to the floor and turning in. solo, the town we’re heading to, the entrance to the Su Marmuri could be on a different island al- help us along. Mik leads the way, The next morning, the shep- was the centre of a spate of kid- cave near the town of . It’s together. The Orosei is scarred keeping the rope taut between herd’s wife brings out bowls of nappings as recently as the 1960s perfect for claustrophobes such with deep ravines and hidden us. hot coffee and steaming milk, through the 1990s. It was easy to as me. A large, bright opening canyons, where goats and boar From the top of the 750-metre along with bread and honey. But keep people hidden in caves for gives way to a dark, cathedral- run wild and on hot days rosem- monolith, the harder work of soon after we set out it starts to months, says Mik, adding, “They sized space that burrows under ary and thyme perfume the air. hiking over jagged limestone rain. Mik decides hiking isn’t just cut off the ears of a couple peo- the mountain for almost a kilo- In the mid-1980s, mountain- karst begins. The slabs of rock are pointless – “there will be no ple for ransom from their fam- metre in length. Boardwalks lead eers from mainland Italy arrived, so sharp that one misstep and views” – but dangerous with the ilies.” There was even a movie, between “rooms” as in an art gal- attracted to the sheer limestone tumble could rip our flesh apart. area’s cliffs. “We’ll have a cultural Bandits of , released in lery, only this one is filled with peaks of the Supramonte range. “No talking, just walking,” in- day instead,” he offers. 1961. otherworldly sculptures still be- By the end of the decade a route structs Mik as we turn inland to- Driving inland on a narrow, Today, the town is better ing refined. had been mapped. ward a shepherd’s farm where winding road, it’s easy to see how known for its vibrant and politi- In places, enormous stalactites Many hikers take six days to we’ll spend the night. these mountains kept the cally charged street murals de- hang from the ceiling and equal- do the entire thing, sleeping on But if the landscape feels in- Phoenicians, Romans and other picting all the ills on the planet, ly impressive stalagmites rise up secluded beaches at night and hospitable, the people are not. A would-be invaders out and why from poverty in Africa to terror- to meet them, forming huge co- getting resupplied with food and lively fire is burning and a side of this interior region, Barbagia, re- ism in the Middle East. Maybe it’s lumns with ridged surfaces that water by boat each day. For us, wild boar is turning on the spit mains isolated even today. “Peo- just me, but on this dreary day, are strangely erotic in the dim ar- Mik has devised a shorter ver- when we arrive at the shepherd’s ple from the rest of the island the paintings seem less like a cry tificial light. sion; four days of the most scenic impressive farmstead. He’s built don’t understand the dialect for justice than a sad truth about Other formations resemble terrain. At least that’s the plan. his house in a style similar to a here,” says Mik as we pass lonely the sorry state of the world. the pipes of an organ, a gigantic Climbing the limestone wall of traditional Sardinian pinneto, farmhouses and towns that ap- At the nearby village of Ma- mushroom or a fringed curtain.