Santa Maria belongs to Baunei, Ogliastra – the central east Sardinia we feel ours like a twin brother. The thick green Lanthia pine forest filters the hazel colour of the semilunar beach that keeps reminding us of some Malay island and of a strong, wild, magnetic nature. At 7 pm, the water looks like the most beautiful azure silk – our eyes are bright with joy – and the small islands scattered in the sea turn gold. The rough and beautiful Supramonte, the Golgo plateau and its wild boars, the 500 sweaty metres to get to look over the turquoise of Cala Goritzé, the crazy wind in Pedralonga, and the sheep bells, remind us where we are. Sardinia, the continent’s island. There is a lemon tree in the granitic-stone winter garden beyond my shower wall. I keep looking at it, since it reminds me of the clear heat and the citrus plantations in the Middle East. There are palm trees, bamboos, succulents, maquis, olive-green in the Lanthia garden. Here Ogliastra culurgiones are made in many different ways. The malloreddus with white sweet lamb sauce, the homemade fregola that smells like lemon, the freshest sheep milk sa frue with mint, the Villagrande ham that gives back all the herbs and woods we have not seen yet. Lanthia Resort guides us by the hand in this part of Sardinia, a jewel of precious workmanship, and it tells us its past and present with wisdom and generosity.
Words Meraviglia Paper, pictures by Alexandra Mascia.