johnff750
- May 4
- 2 min read

Food glorious food - and a spooky abandoned mine

Apart from the beautiful beaches in this part of Sardinia the food is spectacular (see * note below). Spent the past few days visiting and walking the beautiful beaches of Villasimius and trying local Sardinian food at night as well as enjoying my terrific AirBnB. Tuesday was the Calamaretti alla Griglia (griller baby squids). On Wednesday, I ate Malloreddus alla campidanese - Delicious! The official description is pasta tossed in a rich ragù of tomato, fatty Sardinian pork sausage, and a native sherry-like wine called vernaccia di Oristano - (Campidanese refers to the style of the sauce, and is named after a plain on the island). The dish generally consists of little ridged pasta nuggets―the malloreddus―that are made from finely-ground semolina flour. Many recipes and restaurants refer to this pasta as Sardinian gnocchi (“gnochetti sardi”), but this style of pasta is chewy. The ragù that the gnocchi are served in is imbued with saffron, which arrived on Sardinian shores during trade with the Pheonicians; though the saffron crocus is still grown by Sardinian farmers today. The dish is finished with lashings of fudgy-textured, salty-sweet Pecorino Sardo, Last night I settled for Polpo Locale Alla Diavola (local octopus in a spicy tomato sauce!)

Today made the spectacular 2 hour drive to Nuoro. The scenery is nothing short of amazing. Huge mountains, winding roads and incredible views. But today I found something even more exciting "The Miniera di Monte Narba" - (the abandoned mine of Monte Narba). To actually find the mine took a lot of effort as the road in was little more than a unmarked stoney dirt track. The mine was once the largest silver deposit in Italy. It closed in 1935 and the place was so eerie. The interior of some of the buildings were painted by Austrian prisoners in World War ONE and are still well preserved despite being exposed to the elements. This ghost town was well worth the detour.