A documentary film to tell the story of the Samassi artichoke. Among the novelties of the 35th edition of the Samassi Artichoke Festival this year, the municipal administration has decided - always with the aim of promoting and valorizing the product - to also produce a documentary film , which will be presented tomorrow at 6:30 pm, in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall.
The short film, lasting about 15 minutes, tells the story of a specific variety: the violet artichoke. The variety has been cultivated since the 1960s and is now endemic to the Samassi area, and has acquired characteristics of adaptation to the territory. Its cultivation has an important commercial value thanks to its ability to be transformed and represents a significant slice of the artichoke cultivation of the Samassi community and the Medio Campidano. For these and other reasons, it was decided to further enhance this variety of artichoke and not to waste the great human heritage available. From here the idea was born to entrust the young and brilliant director Andrea Mura with the creation of a documentary film on the Violet artichoke of Samassi.
The video best describes the different stages of cultivation: from the harvesting and transplanting of the ovules in the summer, to the trailers full of artichokes, during the winter, which once arrived at one's home, today in the warehouses of fruit and vegetable cooperatives.
In the same, the steps following the harvest are also highlighted: the start of the packaging operations, placing them in the early 80s and 90s in wooden crates. Crates that, once filled, were sealed with a lid fixed with wire, a sign of the preciousness of the product. Today those techniques have changed with the advent of plastic packaging, leaving limited space for wood.
A similar discussion concerns the shipment of artichokes via railway wagons that stopped in a dedicated area at the Samassi-Serrenti station: the crates were inserted by hand, one at a time, creating a perfect fit. Once the loading operations were completed, the freight wagons traveled along the Samassi - Golfo Aranci railway route, where they would then be loaded onto the ship bound for Civitavecchia, to continue the journey towards the General Fruit and Vegetable Market in Rome.
Today all this is just a memory of the past, but it has made the history of a product and a community and has made the Violetto produced in Samassi known and appreciated in the fruit and vegetable markets throughout Italy.
Currently, the transport of the Violetto di Samassi artichoke takes place by road, thanks to refrigerated trucks, and reaches the main markets of Northern and Central Italy more quickly.
In the documentary film made in collaboration with the Association Città della Terra Cruda and sponsored by the Region Autonomous of Sardinia, several institutional bodies were involved such as the Laore Agency, the Agris Agency, the Società Umanitaria – Cineteca Sarda and the newly established Community for the protection and food of southern Sardinia Western called “INCOMUNIS”, in addition of course to the La Collettiva di Samassi Cooperative and several local agricultural companies that still carry out cultivation.
Friday, from 10 am to 1 pm, will also feature a visit by the students of the primary school to Casa Pau and Casa Zara. At 5:30 pm, space for the round table “The artichoke supply chain: the challenge of new markets. Education tour, quality brands, innovation” curated by the Municipality of Samassi and the Laore Agency, at the Council Chamber in via Grazia Deledda, 5.
