I first discovered Sardinia through ornamental carpets, blankets, jewelry, and ceramics. They are colorful and covered in mysterious signs always on the verge of becoming hieroglyphic alphabet. Giuseppe Dessì described them as seals of female thoughts, love messages, calls and protests that women, from their secret domestic world eager to blossom and open up, sent to their men, shaggy shepherds locked in a tough, nuragic illiteracy. These pathetic symbols that have waited in vain for thousands of years to become word stand in sharp contrast to the aura of silence, distrust, and loneliness that people carry with them as a constant condition.
Further reading
Dessì, Giuseppe, ed. Scoperta della Sardegna. Milano: Edizioni Il Polifilo, 1965.
Gioielli. Storia, Linguaggio, Religiosità dell'Ornamento in Sardegna. Nuoro: Ilisso Edizioni, 2004.
