If you suffer from vertigo it is best to stay at home. At least forget the provincial 115, the one that for long stretches runs alongside the most powerful river of the Nuraghi Island, the Flumendosa. Woe to climb these narrow streets dug by time and neglect, more holes than asphalt. The gaze on the side of the stream cuts off the coronary arteries and takes your breath away. The American canyons are walks in the presence of these vertical walls of pitch-black rock where the second river of the island unfolds, after the Tirso.
Devil's boar
These are the deep gorges of the "Devil's Boar", those narrated by Captain Emilio Lussu in his most mythological tales about hunting trips on Monte Cardiga, between Flumendosa and Sarcidano. Raging waters, 22 cubic meters per second at the mouth, indomitable when the force of the valley becomes "full" irascible and powerful, capable of overwhelming any obstacle along its path. To fully understand the deep soul of this stream, its roots in this land of shepherds and hunters, of an untouched and suggestive nature, one must see the hunting notes of the young captain of the rossomori. The tale is epic.
Conversion on horseback
The Flumendosa is in full swing, says Lussu, «you can only go on horseback, excellent swimmer… I took the pleasure of such a test in 1913, at the age of twenty-three. ... I persuaded to come with me, on my back, the elementary school teacher of the village, my old teacher, great hunter, patrician. He was a pagan. In his house he had a bust of Julian the Apostate. Eaters and priest eaters. It had been the terror of the parish. With him on my back, I faced the Flumendosa, with ten meters of water depth. The horse was vigorous, but the current even more so, and it drove us downstream. The teacher was seized by panic and believed himself in the last hour. He made the sign of the cross and invoked Jesus and Mary. The horse, after great efforts, managed to take us to the other side, two hundred meters downstream. The teacher came out of that accident transformed and the next day went to Mass. Unlike Paul of Tarsus, who passed to Christianity by falling from his horse, my teacher converted by remaining in the saddle ».
