Sardinia - The Secrets of the Nuraghes and the Cantu a Tenore, Italy (413/418)

Sardinia - The Secrets of the Nuraghes and the Cantu a Tenore, Italy (413/418)

More than seven thousand round towers built from massive blocks of stone are scattered across the Sardinian landscape. Often, only the stumps of these megalithic buildings called nuraghi remain. The earliest examples were built around 1400 BC. Small stones were placed between the mighty blocks, a method of construction that made the stone towers highly stable. They are now mysterious witnesses to one of the largest, early, island cultures in the Mediterranean region, so much so that they gave the period its name: the Nuragic Age.

Like the nuraghi, cantu a tenore, Sardinia's intangible world heritage also continues to mystify scientists. Some believe that the roots of the archaic style of polyphonic folk singing date back to the Nuragic culture. One thing that is certain is that cantu a tenore is deeply rooted in the world of Sardinian pastoralists. The songs reflect the loneliness of the herdsmen in the hills and their close connection with nature. Since time immemorial, cantu a tenore has been passed on from one generation to the next by listening and singing along.