The last Spanish inscription on a tombstone in Sardinia is located in the Capuchin convent museum of Sanluri.
In those few lines, carved in the marble stone . "The Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Mr. Don Victorio Melano, Archbishop of Cagliari, grants forty days of indulgence to all those who, passing in front of this cross, will recite an Our Father and a Hail Mary."
Until the 1990s, the inscription was on the left side, halfway up the hill that leads to the convent. Practically in front of the deconsecrated church of San Rocco. Base in cement mortar, white tombstone set in the "structure" with writing in Castilian, all surmounted by a light gray metal cross.
For a very long time he occupied that place, accompanying the people of Sanlure who went to the church of the Capuchin Fathers. The plaque is now, as mentioned, inside, in the main hall of the museum. It was not stolen, as was supposed. The inscription is undated. But it is certain that Monsignor Melano was Archbishop of Cagliari from 1778 to 1797.
Joaquin Arce in his book, dated 1960, “Espana en Cerdena”, believes that it is the last Spanish inscription on marble in all of Sardinia. A Scolopian who worked in Sanluri for many years, Father Francesco Colli Vignarelli (to whom the Technical Commercial Institute for surveyors is dedicated) speaks of it in “Sanluri terra 'e lori”. A piece of remarkable value.
Curiously, in those years the Spanish domination had long since ended, to make way for the Savoy . In 1720, to be precise. Nonetheless, as the epigraph demonstrates, on the Island they continued, at least in official documents, to write in Castilian. To underline the fact that the Hispanic domination in Sardinia had left, and still leaves, a very deep mark .