Guarding the extreme south of Sardinia is one of the oldest island lighthouses, built in 1850: the lighthouse of Sant'Elia, near the bay of Calamosca. Her love for her husband and her passion for her job led her to become a keeper herself and raise her children in the lighthouse.
It is an extraordinary piece of land, like the widow of the lighthouse keeper of Capo San Marco. The two ends mark the edges of the Sinis protected marine area, which has survived intact to the modern day: sand dunes, white cliffs, quartz crystal beaches, natural oases inhabited by rare fauna and scattered with evidence of the Nuragic, Phoenician Punic and Roman ages. It extends by land and sea from the lighthouse of Capo Mannu to that of Capo San Marco, which you can reach on foot along a path that passes by the ruins of Tharros. The Sinis peninsula 'speaks' through the signs of nature and ancient history. Completed in 1890, it became famous thanks to Guglielmo Marconi who installed a (then) revolutionary shortwave radio system. Still in Gallura, at Golfo Aranci, a path towards the peak of Capo Figari leads to the Navy lighthouse. Emotions experienced at the edge of the world, the same that you can still feel when visiting other (former) lighthouses of the archipelago and the opposite coast: Punta Filetto and the lookout of Marginetto at La Maddalena the lighthouse of Capo d'Orso in Palau, the signalling stations of Capo Ferro in Porto Cervo and Punta Falcone in Santa Teresa Gallura, where the magic of the Capo Testa lighthouse stands out as a romantic destination and a meditative refuge, not to say a reference point for surfers (since 1845) and anyone seeking a place to sit quietly and reflect. Their teachers reported to the mainland on the lives of the children and teenagers who grew up on the small island exposed to the elements. The great light guarding the tormented Bocche di Bonifacio required the work of three keepers, who lived here with their families sharing everything they had, even the education of their children. On the oldest of the Sardinian lighthouses, at Razzoli, the northernmost island of the Maddalena archipelago park, the keepers lived like hermits. Further east, across the Gulf of Orosei, in Siniscola you will discover another 'mythical' lighthouse, which has stood at the eastern end of the splendid Capo Comino beach since 1903. It starts with delightful coves, and leads, at the end of a path through thick Mediterranean scrub, to a striking 11 metre high lighthouse tower. Moving up the eastern coast, you will meet the splendid and endless sandy expanse of Costa Rei, closed to the north by the promontory of Capo Ferrato. Its outer walls are covered with a mosaic of small white tesserae, with colours changing from blue to purple. Built in the mid-19th century, the lighthouse incorporates a late-16th century Spanish tower. Cavoli lighthouse is now home to the biological research center of the protected area of Capo Carbonara and is one of the most visited places in the marine park. Today, only memories remain of families and keepers drowned in a desperate attempt to escape. This was often the case at dei Cavoli island, a short distance from Villasimius. They are very close to the mainland, yet they must have appeared far away, waiting for help that was delayed. Life in solitude on the lighthouses became tragic when endless storms raged that cut off the islets inhabited only by the keepers and their families. From its summit, at the top of 124 spiral steps, it emits four beams of light that reach up to 24 miles away.
Nearby, on the island of San Pietro, Capo Sandalo stands on a cliff overlooking the westernmost lighthouse in Italy, built in 1864.
They tell of miraculous rescues and shipwrecks, of boats swallowed by the waves, as in the islet of Mangiabarche (boat-eater), only a short distance from the coast of Calasetta, on the island of Sant'Antioco, named for its reputation among sailors. They exude the emotions and feelings of the intense lives of their keepers, of yesterday and today. They watch over bright-coloured waters, where the air smells of salt and Mediterranean scents and the hubbub of waves crashing on the rocks is incessant. Standing on headlands far from everything and on uninhabited islands, the lighthouses of Sardinia are lonely outposts, silent witnesses of the stories of the sea. During the day, with the light off, the charm of lost and wild places shines in its stead. A beam of light keeps night sailors away from the coasts, signalling the last boundary between land and sea.
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