The crossroads is Pranu 'e sanguini. On one hand the mysteries of the universe, beyond infinity, on the other the deepest secrets, those of the bowels of the earth. The telephone signal is feeble, entering these scorching headlands is like venturing into an unexplored Klondaike, almost at the end of the world. On the side of the road you don't see a living being even if you rely on your imagination. The "climbers" of Gerrei have chosen the soft shade that stands out under the oaks, shepherds not even on the horizon. The hairpin bends that creep into the elevations of the mountains that belonged to Emilio Lussu are worn out by time and by failures forgotten by man and by the Province of Southern Sardinia. The fat grass on the plateau between San Basilio and Silius is reddish, as if it were an exclusive directional sign.
Infinity and depth
On the left the giant ear, the one that listens to the mysteries of the Universe, the Sardinia Radio Telescope, the largest and most technologically advanced Radio Telescope ever built in Italy, second in the world in size. When you find it in front of you in this desolate and abandoned land you can also think you are at the center of Creation, even if few have noticed it. Leaving the horizon of the cyclopean parabola, one sees a skyline barely violated by a few wind turbines, but still essentially intact. Only a few kilometers further on, surrounded by shrubs and scrub, oaks and lentisks, you can see the "castle" of Muscadroxiu, a rusty iron scaffolding that for a lifetime made people go up and down towards the depths of the earth, in the secrets of the Mine of “Genna Tres Monti”. The signpost is almost touristic, abraded by the sun, irreparably rendered illegible in the name of the old company, the last one, the one that governed the ancient mine of Silius. From then until today, the signs of time have carved the memory of a population of miners, forced almost six hundred meters underground to rummage through the somersaults of the earth's crust, in search of veins of precious minerals.
