On the evening of May 14, 1943, a group of Alghero fishermen returned to the port of Alghero. Suddenly he was shot down by an American heavy fighter: a Lightning P38. 6 fishermen died: the youngest was 36 years old, the oldest 80. That tragedy has never been forgotten. Not even by the municipal administration that wants to honor its memory in a worthy way. Commissioning the well-known Sardinian sculptor Mario Nieddu a work that symbolized the story.
The sculpture is ready and will be inaugurated on Sunday 14 May at the Tarantiello port of Alghero . Present mayor Mario Conoci, other authorities and relatives of those innocent victims.
The work is called " Caged Sail ". A beautiful and imposing granite structure 3 meters high, weighing 2 tons. Caged in metal «to contain the wounds caused by man's ferocity», says the sculptor Mario Nieddu today, who adds «wounds that are always alive in the hearts of those who shared the pain of those fishermen and their families. The sail extends upwards, a hymn that bursts into tragedy, which knows no hatred, but only a great warning on the futility of conflicts, which bring immense suffering". "The sail is wounded - concludes Nieddu - but it rises from the sea like a stele on innocent martyrs".
The sculptor Mario Nieddu, 77 years old from Nulvi, but resident in Alghero for years, has produced several monumental works in various locations: in addition to Alghero and others in Sardinia (the last one in Tergu), also in the Peninsula, Paris, Munich and Stuttgart.