From the hill of the Giants to the bottomless pit, the step is short. The sign of the «Romanesque Templars» still praises the scar in front of Mont'e Prama. The orders of the Foundation to "immediately" remove that colonial sign clumsily placed on the entrance gate of the abandoned excavations had the effect of a firecracker, just long enough for a modest jolt of the façade. The story of the millionaire expenses to promote the "site that doesn't exist" recalls in many ways a past history.
Wonderful cocoa
Renzo Arbore, in the famous program "Quelli della notte", inadvertently launched a brand that went down in history: "il Cacao Meravigliao". The day following the launch in prime time, the disappointment of potential customers lining up in front of shops all over Italy was bitter. Some traders were even forced to affix the sign in the windows: Cacao Meravigliao is not sold, because it does not exist. Mont'e Prama is not a product that is sold in a supermarket, but its promotion must be sized to the real usability of the archaeological heritage that one would like to make known. In this case, exceeding, spending and spreading advertising, without having a usable and complete product for the general public, means not only squandering public resources, but causing indelible damage to those who perhaps venture to look for the primordial site of the Giants, their real home.
After Pecorino, the Giants
In past years Cagliari, the Sardinian team, was sponsored by the “Pecorino Romano” brand, an important economy rooted in the Nuraghi Island. The Region, to promote a horizontal and widely consumed product, had branded the shirts of the favorites of the football fields. Important sponsorships, hundreds of thousands of euros, which served, without being able to say it, also to financially support the football team itself. Pecorino Romano was a product that was found everywhere. That slice of local cheese has now given way to an effigy of the Giants of Mont'e Prama, imprinted on the club shirts of the rossoblu. Many have thought of a "free" recognition of the ancient history of the Sardinian people. In reality it is much more. In fact, the Mont'e Prama Foundation, struck by the desire to accompany the team on every away game, has decided on its most impressive expense, a good 260,000 euros in sponsorship of Cagliari Calcio Spa. Four tranches for the payment: 100 thousand euros immediately, contract stipulation. Sixty thousand by 31 December last year, another 50 thousand by 28 February and the same number by 30 April next. Basically a quarter of the Foundation's budget, if we exclude the organization of Archeologika 2022. All of this with a lot of multiple accompaniment on trips around Italy, both for administrators and employees of the Foundation.
Football & basketball
The Giants, however, love not only the turf, not that of the weeds of Mont'e Prama, but also the parquet on the basketball courts. After donating the 260,000 euros to Cagliari, to balance, the Foundation has decided to invest in basketball as well. The resolution of 4 October reads: Dinamo Basket Sassari convention agreement. Another 260 thousand euros. All to promote a Hill of the Giants reduced to a potato field and a museum to be built reduced to an abandoned construction site, with delays in the works of which account has been lost for a project of 5 years ago and financed for more than ten years now. Promoting something that cannot be seen, that does not exist, that is not properly usable, complete with a strategic plan, is simply a race to appear, which causes more damage than anything else. The financial well of Mont'e Prama is an endless list of huge expenses, all aimed at communication and consultancy.
The Leaning Tower
Standing out among these is the assignment, always in direct negotiation, for the activity of «Elaboration of the concept, scenography and design of installations – technical support». Once again, the Opificio Innova, a key company in this system of assignments that revolve around the Mont'e Prama Foundation, benefited from this new expense, a good 148 thousand euros, one on top of the other. The company, in fact, belongs to the owner, Raimondo Schiavone, known as Mondino, owner of 61 percent of the company "Opificio Innova srl", through "Primaidea srl" of which he holds 100% of the shares. Adding up the assignments obtained in recent months by the Sardinian branch of this "holding" alone, we arrive at 194,262 euros, to which, however, must be added the connections with the Pisa system. Primaidea srl, in fact, is linked to the «Gate Real Estate», 61% owned by the company SET of Pisa which, again from the Foundation, has had the conspicuous assignment for the «design and video and multimedia contents for Archeologika 2022» for a amount of 91,150 euros, to which are added the 57,950 euros entrusted to Fabivision, also of Pisa, connected with a 10% to the same SET srl, all located in the same building in the city of the leaning tower.
Corporate castle
The corporate castle, between Cagliari and Pisa, has therefore obtained assignments from the Cabras Foundation, for a good 343 thousand euros. And speaking of " cocoa Marvelous " they cannot escape the desire for grandeur in entrusting the beauty of 60 thousand euros for advertising in the Corriere della Sera for two pages of the number one newspaper. Obviously, no one has raised the issue of the cost-benefits of that advertising, both due to the vastness of the market and the cost. For example, no one has evaluated the effectiveness of two advertising pages in the "Corriere" for an archaeological site still marked by the sign of the "Itineraries of the Knights Templar" and by a museum still with reduced ranks, divided into a thousand streams. The same applies to another 60,000 euros entrusted to the magazine Bell'Italia in viaggio. Once in Mont'e Prama, readers of the magazine would find a plowed field and nothing more. What about the assignment for the website of the Foundation to a company in Milan for the sum of 32 thousand euros or the one entrusted to the company Relive Comunication of Cagliari, that of the Mamuthones spot under water, which obtained an assignment as generic as lucrative. For an indefinite "communication and promotion service" he has, in fact, received a contract for 46 thousand euros.
Glossy magazine
The glossy magazine, four-color, with heavy paper, in the face of the Knights Templar could not be missing. The figures are deployed in several resolutions, each edition seems to have a different typographer. The first two editions, number 0 and number 1 were entrusted for 1,000 copies each to New graphics Puddu by Ortacesus. A total of 9,000 plus VAT, including brochures with information material. For the second issue, for the printing of 5,000 copies, the typography, Sigma Industrie Grafica, changes for an amount of 11,450 euros. There is more. To distribute it, another 20,000 euros have to be paid for Giunti Editori of Florence.
From Milan for work
The temporary work company could not be missing. The mission that is the object of the assignment is in bureaucratese: "administration of personnel", almost as if it were a drink. In reality, these are temporary hirings of dedicated personnel, as if the tasks entrusted to direct negotiation were not enough, to communication and organizational secretarial activities and even to "relations with institutions". To look for young people to hire through fixed-term contracts, the Foundation, that of Cabras, went as far as Milan, from E-Work S.pA., in short, for some part-time jobs in Sardinia we go to Padania. The accountant is not missing from the list of expenses, he even comes from Macomer, and he will have to follow the Foundation's accounts for 52 thousand euros. Agreement also for the lawyer who from Oristano will have to "support the President's activities", in this case for 12 thousand euros.
Driver & missions
Finally, travel abroad and beyond, complete with a driver who has an agreement for transporting the gentlemen of the Foundation, round trip, from Cabras to Cagliari-Elmas airport. The resolution states this explicitly: «considering that the activity of the Foundation envisages carrying out various missions by the President and members of the staff, in order to participate in national and international events, both in the tourist and archaeological fields» it is recognized the need for a car with a driver to accompany the delegation to the airport. In the coming months, it is written in the resolution, 19 missions are expected. After all, there are the transfers of Cagliari and Dinamo, the travels of the Giant and so on. With what sponsorships cost, why deny yourself a mission following the heroes? After all, the Knights of the Romanesque Templars, those of the Mont'e Prama cartel, were frequent travellers, but they didn't have a driver. In Mont'e Prama, the Giants, those underground and beyond, await the end of the holidays. For now it is forbidden to enter there.
