Immortalize her, before it's too late, before the lords of the wind deface her exclusive proscenium forever. Photograph as you can that its grandeur, wrapped in a pristine landscape that has enveloped it for at least a thousand years, looking at the history and nature of this land. Here, even the children call it Sa Reina, the Queen, the oldest of S'Ortu Mannu. The territory is that of Villamassargia, an agricultural gateway to the mining civilization. A land marked by castles and millenary olive trees, kissed by green oases and luxuriant pastures. In the 1960s, an impressive hydraulic reclamation project had brought water and development to these plains and hills. The Cixerri, which has always crossed these lands, is like the Tiber for Rome or the Po for the Po Valley. From Iglesias to Cagliari, it flows throughout the Iglesiente following the sloping riverbed to flow beyond Macchiareddu, towards the Golfo degli Angeli.
Money between castles & wind
For months, until recent days, in this enchanted proscenium, set between the castle of Acqua Fredda in Siliqua and Gioiosa Guardia in Villamassargia, the lords of the wind have been wandering around undisturbed, those with the briefcase full of blank contracts, to be submitted to the unfortunate turn, ready to give up his land to the flattery of some alms in exchange for wind and environmental devastation. The former arrived here from Norway, the latter from Sarroch, the land devastated by oil chimneys and devastated by the pollution that surrounds Saras, the Moratti refinery. And then, last but not least ambitious, there are the gentlemen of Sorgenia, the company born under the aegis of the engineer, Carlo De Benedetti, to then pass into the hands of the "bulldozer" fund, the one that in Sardinia is buying everything and more, from the airports of Alghero and Olbia, even aiming for Cagliari.
Last landing
It was Sorgenia who conquered the last niche in the increasingly copious Sardinian wind power roulette protocol at the Ministry of the Environment. With a last-minute blitz he presented yet another gigantic project, still shrouded in the mystery of the secret rooms of the ministry of the wind lobby par excellence, what should have been of the Environment and which, instead, the alchemies of money have transformed into that of energy security, that of multinationals. The protocol date is 19 June 2023. The claimed procedure is that of the Pnrr, or rather "approve everything without wasting time", except, however, for the obstacle of the divine curse of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca who in these promontories, since the time of the Pisani, was at home. The wind farm has a name and surname, a whole program: "South Iglesiente Wind Park". In other words: we don't lack expansionist goals. Without beating about the bush, the goal is clear: to transform the land of mines into a desert land of wind turbines.
Brush air and incentives
The intent is articulated: to brush both the air of S'Ortu Mannu and the billionaire incentives of renewable energies. The Sorgenia project, in the palaces of Rome, is still under "administrative checks", i.e. documents that are still armored and cannot be consulted. It is certainly known that compared to the other two, that of the Norwegians and the Saras oil companies, it is the heaviest, with as many as ten blades, for a potential of 59.15 megawatts. The lords of high finance aim to stick their 200-metre blades into the same areas chosen by the other competitors, with a variant: they also want to build a 15.75 MW integrated electrochemical storage system (batteries), with connected works falling within the Municipalities of Siliqua, Museums and Iglesias. After all, they don't care about destroying land and landscapes. The target in Sardinia is always the same: to do business. An infinite vortex, for these gentlemen prosaically "in love" with Sardinia. Capitals of high finance, including the public one, capable of putting an entire island under fire, determined to buy, with share swaps, the entrance gates, the airports, from Olbia to Alghero, also thinking of Cagliari , up to the wind turbines to be placed everywhere, from Campidano to the Iglesiente.
"Evangelists" of money
The boomos tell of characters linked to politics, with leading roles played until a few months ago, who venture into the difficult "evangelical" work of convincing the unfortunate that placing those steel skyscrapers in the middle of the countryside of Astia, the heart of the mountains south of Villamassargia, is a real bargain. There is no doubt that it is, but the billionaire deal certainly belongs to Sorgenia. To make money, alms in the face of the earnings of high finance, are also those who, without firing a shot, sell off their souls and lands to these gentlemen in exchange for "contracts" from a second-hand market. The decline of Sorgenia is only the latest in chronological order, but it is clear that the Iglesiente has been targeted for months by the large financial groups who aim to establish themselves where poverty is advancing, where the ability to react is now reduced to a minimum terms.
Amazing promises
The promises in all three projects are always the same, mimeographed and bombastic, only to be reduced to mere illusions. They talk about employment and repercussions: the reality, however, is quite different: the work units in the construction phase are very few, most of them coming from outside, practically none those envisaged in the operating phase, unless there is someone willing to believe that the manpower will be used to turn the blades.
Environmental gutting
All this with a real gutting of the territory, with the bases of these cyclopean wind turbines driven into real esplanades built with bulldozers and excavators in the middle of mastic and oak trees, pastures and untouched promontories. The dimensions of the pitches for positioning these blades exceed the surface of a football field, between elevated platforms and reinforced concrete bases, all of which support these nefarious 70-storey steel skyscrapers, well over two hundred meters in height. From every angle of view, from Iglesias to Villamassargia, even from the opposite side of Basso Sulcis, the impact on the landscape will be devastating. The most significant scar is, however, in the heart of this area, between the two castles that stand between Siliqua and Villamassargia.
Punch to the eye and stomach
The 24 total wind turbines that the lords of high finance want to nail to these promontories are so invasive that they would turn into an eyesore and one in the stomach in an instant. What is under attack is the slope closest to the provincial road, the so-called Pedemontana, the internal road artery that runs alongside the entrance to the Iglesiente. From the Norwegians of Fred Olsen Renewables to Saras, they have no scruples, the photographic restitution, fortunately still only virtual, of their skyscrapers in the midst of these environmental oases, leaves no room for error. While trying to mitigate the impact on the landscape with favorable angles, the result is devastating. S'Ortu Mannu, the most visited natural monument in this area, with its thousand-year-old olive trees that have become icons of agro-pastoral history and civilization, is literally surrounded.
Ambush at Sa Reina
The lords of Saras, those of the project called "Astia wind park on shore", the same ones of the chimneys of Sarroch, even had to admit that one of their "wind generators", the Wtg 01, positioned in the Astia plateau stands straight in the presence of Sa Reina, one of the oldest olive trees on the island, with over a thousand years of life. A monument to nature raped by that steel proscenium that stands out right behind it in the project. The skyline is without appeal: a 200-metre long shovel, driven in just over two kilometers from S'Ortu Mannu, stands out like a dagger on the silver foliage of the oldest of the monument plants. Not to mention the Norwegian project, with business in England, Scotland and Sweden. The foreigners have taken the license to place, for now in the project, the nine steel skyscrapers halfway up the ridges which all face Villamassargia. From every corner of the historic center of the small village of olive trees you can "admire" the Norwegian havoc in the land of Sardinia. The assault starts from the mountain which has welcomed the Castle of Gioiosa Guardia for a memorable time. The "zerouno" shovel is driven right up against it, just below, in full view.
Santa Barbara, the scar
Every hill is tempting for the lords who have come from the fjords, they occupy nine in all, almost a war chessboard. Everything emerges in the projects, even the wind turbines coincide with the path of Santa Barbara. An opportunity, is written in the report, without fear of being blasphemous, to combine religious tourism with wind energy. They write it seriously, complete with a photomontage of tourists with backpackers who climb those promontories to admire the havoc of the wind turbines.
There's nothing left
Last detail: the citizens of Villamassargia will be left with nothing, only the devastation of an immense and exclusive environmental heritage. For them, as for the rest of the Sardinians, energy will cost more and more. To be paid for in the bill, in fact, will be the incentives given dearly by the State to these "air combers", who have come to the land of "Sa Reina" to make wind and fill up with money, all on the heads of the Sardinians and the Sardinia.
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