Italian
The new column “Art, Culture, History, and Archaeology” curated by Carlo Franchini continues. A journey to discover the beauty, curiosities, and charm of Italy yesterday and today.
By Carlo Franchini
The northwestern Sardinia, just a few kilometers from Alghero, holds one of the places that make the island magical: Capo Caccia. The name is said to be due to the fact that in the 1800s, when the sea allowed it, hunters would reach the promontory by boat to hunt pigeons.
Capo Caccia is a limestone promontory 300 meters high overlooking the sea, surrounded by a wonderful and lush Mediterranean scrub that extends to the surrounding countryside, offering glimpses of stunning landscapes.
Declared a wildlife oasis along with much of the surrounding sea, it is home to splendid raptors including the peregrine falcon, griffons, and numerous beautiful royal gulls watch over it from above.
The coast is famous for being rich in surface caves such as the extraordinary “Neptune’s Grotto,” the “refuge of the sea god,” filled with stalactites and stalagmites that extend for about 2,500 meters and submerged caves. Diving into these waters is truly a very exciting adventure. Inside the caves, you encounter extraordinary creatures… grouper, moray eels, lobsters, crabs, and more. The walls are literally covered with life… the magical red coral, gorgonians, feather dusters, bivalves, leptosammia pruvoti (the yellow madreporite), the serpulids with their colorful crowns, sponges, and many other bizarre forms of life, create authentic paintings with vibrant colors: red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and black blend together as if they were the work of a painter. But also… stalactites and stalagmites!
Close to the caves, large schools of bream and sea bass swim, while numerous groupers observe curiously from the bottom. Where the water is deeper, towards “the blue,” encounters with large species of barracuda, amberjack, and dentex are not uncommon.
Through images and a video, we will guide you to get to know this place that looks towards infinity above and… below the sea!
Anyone interested in diving should remember that it is essential to contact one of the many Diving Centers in the area.
Not far from Capo Caccia is the site of Palmavera, a Nuragic village from the 16th to 8th century B.C.
among the most significant in Sardinia, but that’s another story!
