We were planning to spend a couple of days in the middle of the Sardinian trip on the French island of Corsica to acquire a smidgen of familiarity with yet another part of the world that we had never been to before. However, stormy weather prompted the cancellation of the ferry schedule between the islands, and we had to reshuffle our plans on the fly. That afforded us an opportunity to visit a few places that we would otherwise not be able to fit into the itinerary.
One of those was Cuglieri, a hilltop village within an hour’s drive from Bosa, whose towering basilica presents one of the most monumental distant perspectives in all of Sardinia.
Here is the frontal view of the grand church – whose full name is Basilica di Santa Maria della Neve – up close.
The interior of the basilica is full of attractive features, far transcending, in a sense, what might be expected of a church in a relatively small village.
Cuglieri is not that tiny, to be fair. Here are a couple of rooftop perspectives from the piazza in front of the basilica.
One more departing look at the church.
The sloping streets of Cuglieri are narrow and colorful, with interesting details aplenty. I am a bit surprised – in not exactly a positive way – that I ended up with only a few passable fragments.
If you enjoy exploring small towns with visible vestiges of centuries of history, you should certainly consider Cuglieri as a worthwhile stop.
Another town that we stopped by was Fertilia, not far from Alghero. We had purposefully arrived about an hour ahead of our dinner reservation in town, for an impromptu passegiata on the central promenade of Fertilia. The subsequent shots are all basically different angles and focal lengths of the same perspective along Piazza San Marco and Via Pola.
Ok, one opposite perspective, of the Fertilia marina.
And a view towards Alghero across the bay.
Here is a similar fragment of Alghero in tiles.
An old Roman bridge – that we drove by a couple of times without figuring out how to stop and photograph – is another key point of interest in Fertilia.
This plaque reads “To those who with arts and crafts made Fertilia a reality.”
Not exactly worthy of superlatives, but very pleasant indeed.
Not sure why, but this humble town captured me, and I save a couple of the photos, including the narrow lane, as wallpaper. Thank you for allowing me to visit the world with you. My own family is from Basilicata, Italy, the town of Miglionico (my father was born there). I have only seen it in pictures. Maybe you will go that way someday. My dad said he ran around the countryside and played in the old castle on the hill. Our family name is Materdomini, after the church where an infant, my 3x great-grandfather was found and adopted. Just an interesting story for you… 🙂