Not even Dante's Inferno troubled them. Nothing so far has prevented him from daring up there, to the detriment of the historical vestiges of the ancient owner of the "Curatoria del Sigerro", those that still dominate the current irrigation district of Cixerri, in the Iglesiente. Not even the great poet's bloody story about the "cannibal" deeds of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, the Pisan ruler of those lands, kept them away from the Castle of the Gioiosa Guardia, close to the town of centenary olive trees, Villamassargia. The new daredevils of the wind this time climbed without fear, almost intent on conquering new and modern Dantesque circles all reserved for those who attack history and plunder nature.
The circles of Hell
If Ugolino, dominus of the ancient Villa Ecclesiae, the current Iglesias, had crossed the ninth and last infernal circle of traitors, the lords of wind power dared to climb even more daring peaks than that monumental castle built by the della Gherdardesca family on the highest peak of the "Monte di Gioiosa Guardia", an outpost of the mountains that separate the Iglesiente from the Sulcis. A sort of Checkpoint Charlie between Villamassargia and Terraseo, between east and west of southern Sardinia.
Ancient peak
If you're not a local and don't have a safe guide, don't venture into those dirt roads that border the ancient castle worn by time, smoothed by the wind, caressed by the pristine landscape that surrounds it. The sign that indicates it lies on the edge of the road, scorched by an afternoon that has brought Astia, the plateau that surrounds it, directly into the sun. Challenging that climb is for daredevils, with the air boiling over 40 degrees. Entering those paths of ancient history, however, is like crossing the threshold between earth and sky, passing through a jungle of junipers and lentisks that have enveloped every passage towards the castle over time. The blue notches marked on the rock mark the climb towards the extreme peak of that forgotten monument. The slopes, step by step, transform the branches of the thick and strong maquis into essential lianas to anchor the ascent on the steepest slopes.
Breathtaking
When the walkways are interrupted, on the middle ridge, you have to transform the human form into that of a wild boar, the only possible posture for crossing the impenetrable mastic tunnels. The crossroads is almost at the top: Castle or cistern, summit or underground, those of the ancient medieval vestige. To dominate the regal walls that still fray on the sky strutting from the heat, you still need firm feet and well-anchored harpoons, up to the glimpse of that tachycardia precipice that radiates along a ridge 400 meters above sea level.
Three-dimensional glimpse
The glimpse is three-dimensional as if augmented reality had taken a step back in history. The view is unobstructed, the visual prospecting makes those monumental promontories like a stage reserved only for those who dare. It is here, within the ancient walls of the Castle, that you fully understand the toponymy of the place: Gioiosa Guardia. It could not be otherwise given the impact with a place more fairytale than rural, more enchanted than destined to the spells of the lords of the wind.
Lookout of history
In this historical lookout point, the whole of Cixerri can be seen, green and productive, thanks to that water chained in the basins and pipes that irrigate it, making it fertile up to Siliqua. Marganai and Monte Linas rise to the east towards Villacidro, the vestiges of Orbai to the west until you see the forest of Pantaleo in Sulcis. If there is a point in the south of the island where the wind disaster can multiply without borders, it is precisely the one chosen by Sorgenia, the multinational reborn from the "renewable" ashes of the company of the engineer, that Carlo De Benedetti, who, with that sun and wind capture mechanism, had amassed almost two billion in debt.
The line of Castles
As if the horizon line drawn by Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, the one between the Castle of Acquafredda di Siliqua, Gioiosa Guardia di Villamassargia and Salvaterra di Iglesias, did not exist, the lords of Sorgenia, after having invaded the Medio Campidano, try with wind turbines to get their hands on the wind of the Iglesiente. After the assault by two other multinationals that had raised the bar on those slopes close to Villamassargia, the Ministry of the Environment is now returning the papers of the new wind project to the public domain.
21 scrap metal skyscrapers
There are no less than 21 scrap metal skyscrapers to be driven into those mountains with reinforced concrete platforms the size of a football field, in such a position as to forever tear apart the untouched skyline of this land of agriculture and mines.
210 meters of F2i
From the 206 meters of height of the wind blades chosen by the other two companies, in this project just unveiled by the company that belongs to the F2i investment fund, the one that wants to buy all the airports of Sardinia, shows off an even higher size with 210 meters of height. Shovels number five, six and seven will cross the ancient vestiges of the Castle of Gioiosa Guardia, as if they didn't exist. The other fans will stand out on the horizon, along the road to Carbonia. They don't even hide the goal of scarring the landscape, so much so that they come to write it without fear: «The wind turbines will be installed according to a main alignment that favors the development of the ridges characterizing the northern portion of the Sulcis Mountains, on the southern edges of the Cixerri Valley».
The story doesn't exist
For the lords of the wind, history does not exist, despite the fact that the archaeological map attached to the project is a far more relevant warning than the landscape and nature slicers who would like to superimpose on the ancient Castle. They are the ones to describe the area on which they intend to place the state incentive slot machines. They write: «numerous nuraghes are found, including the nuraghe Santu Pauli and the nuraghe Monte Exi, and three tombs of giants, in the locality of Monte Ollastu and in that of Astia, where a sacred well dedicated to the cult of water can also be observed. In the early Middle Ages, the plateau of Astia, the Byzantine administrative center of the area, assumed importance. In the Judicial period, Villamassargia was part of the Curatoria del Cixerri or Sigerro, in the Giudicato of Calari, and thanks to the fertility of its land, it became one of the most populous villages in the Sulcis-Iglesiente region, and the capital of the Curatoria until the birth of Villa di Chiesa». For them everything they tell about those lands has the value of a potato field.
Wind constraints
Among the areas that they define as having a "strong symbolic value" they insert "the remains of the Castle of Gioiosa Guardia are located on top of the hill of the same name southeast of the urban center of Villamassargia and about 1 km as the crow flies north of the plant area (with wind generator number six closest)". In other words, we know it exists, but we don't care. Last annotation. Speaking of constraints they write: "the wind stations and part of the related ancillary works fall within areas subject to hydrogeological constraints". Also in this case it does not matter: «preventive authorization will be required». As if the constraints could be interpreted on the basis of the wind blowing.
