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Great Continental Railway Journeys - Season 9 Episode 3 - Nuoro to Macomer
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00:01I'm embarking on a new series of railway journeys, exploring Europe's most
00:08beautiful and historic regions. Oh, we're about to set off.
00:14From Belgium. Oh, I'm loving this.
00:20To Hungary. Oh, this is amazing. And the islands of Sardinia.
00:29Fantastic. And Corsica.
00:34I'll enjoy nature, history, culture and fun in some of Europe's most enchanting places.
00:44I am looking forward to a tremendous railway adventure.
01:18My beautiful railway journey across the large Mediterranean island of Sardinia has brought me towards the north, from where I
01:27descend into the sea.
01:27To paganism. I'll sing the praises of an engineer from the hills of Wales who came here to build railways
01:35in the mountains of Sardinia.
01:43I began my journey in Cagliari, the island's capital.
01:47From there, I explored the island's dramatic coastline, marvelling at its towering cliffs and beautiful beaches.
01:53I ventured into the peaky interior on a narrow gauge railway known as the little green train.
02:00Now, I'm travelling on one of the regional services, which, along with standard gauge lines, transport me through towns and
02:08villages towards the north coast, from where I'll take the ferry to Corsica.
02:20On this beautiful late summer's day, I'm journeying eastward across the island on a narrow gauge line.
02:28The railway company has specially laid on one of its vintage diesel trains.
02:37From Nuoro station, I've travelled to the small town of Mamoyada.
02:42It's famous for a distinctive and mysterious pagan festival, rooted in ancient Sardinian culture.
02:48It bursts forth every year on the cusp of spring.
02:53Hello, friends!
02:55Good morning!
02:56Good morning!
02:57How are you?
02:58I'm Michael.
02:59Here's Enzo.
03:00Enzo, Enzo, a pleasure.
03:01Good morning.
03:02Good morning.
03:03Good morning.
03:04Enzo.
03:05Tell me.
03:06I've never seen anything similar in life.
03:10I've never seen anything like this in my life.
03:12What is this?
03:14This is the clothing of Mamutones and Soccadores.
03:17This is an archaic, pre-christian.
03:28The shaggy figures in black masks and dark sheepskins are known as Mamutones.
03:34Their colourful leaders, in red and white, are called Isuadoris.
03:40This extraordinary ritual was unknown outside this small town until a Sardinian anthropologist
03:47revealed it to the world in 1951.
03:51And this tradition is preserved?
03:54This tradition is always distributed by parents and children to our young people.
03:59This is the tradition and this is the ritual.
04:01So it's preserved the tradition until now?
04:04Yes, until now, yes.
04:05And we continue to distribute it.
04:07For what I do?
04:07My son, you need your eyes.
04:09Yes, can I turn a bit?
04:13Tell me, no.
04:14So tiny bear...
04:1830 kg of oil!
04:20Sc maturity, 30 kilos of weight.
04:22Incredible.
04:24Alice Meda has been studying the origins of this historic ritual.
04:29Michael?
04:30Oh, Alice, what a pleasure to see you.
04:32Tell me about this amazing tradition.
04:34We think that all these masquerades are what remains of pagan rituals
04:40celebrated by shepherds and farmers to drive away the winter,
04:46the evil spirits of winter.
04:48That's why they all wear cowbells, tragic masks,
04:52and to call the spring back
04:55and to ask for the renewal of the nature.
05:01Is there also some connection with carnival?
05:04The carnival came later.
05:07Anthropologists think that these rituals are pre-Christian
05:10and carnival is part of the Christian calendar.
05:14Some anthropologists think that the church
05:20couldn't forbid completely these kind of pagan rituals
05:24and they allowed people to dress up during carnival
05:30and celebrate these pagan rituals only during carnival time.
05:34So the time of the year is the same
05:36and during carnival time you can do anything you want.
05:41I'm seeing two costumes.
05:43Tell me the difference between the two.
05:44So mammutone, he represents all the negative elements of life,
05:50the darkness, the winter, death.
05:53So adore, on the contrary, represents the life,
05:57the rebirth, the light, the fertility.
06:08To learn the secrets of the mammutones,
06:11I must descend into an underworld.
06:17What an emporium.
06:20And another room through here.
06:23Enzo, what an extraordinary place.
06:36So these are all made from black sheep.
06:38From black sheep.
06:39I'm wondering whether I dare ask to try on a costume.
06:43Sarebbe possibile provare il costume io?
06:46Ah, volentieri?
06:47Certo, certo.
06:48Per favore.
06:58This is where I become a black sheep.
07:01Ah, that's it.
07:07Oh, no, very comfortable.
07:11I've dressed up a few times, but today I'm the belle of the ball.
07:19I don't know how you bear this weight.
07:23I'm just lacking passion.
07:28So can I muster enough passion to dance in approximate rhythm
07:33with my fellow mammutones?
07:55The man behind these magical masks is Franco Saleh.
08:00I beard him in his den.
08:06Franco, buongiorno, salve.
08:08Buongiorno.
08:08Sono Michael.
08:10Piacere.
08:11Piacere mio.
08:12Allora, la maschera, quanti anni lei fa la maschera?
08:15Io iniziato tardi.
08:17Io iniziato a lavorare in legno a 42 anni.
08:21Ah, I ve sforzed to when I began.
08:22Faccio il mammutone, guarda, quella è la mia attrezzatura.
08:25Questa è la pelliccia.
08:26La maschera che indossavo l'avevo comprata da una persona di mamuliata.
08:30Però dove la maschera aveva la bocca, non conoscevo legni, non conoscevo sgorbie.
08:36Totalmente autodidatta.
08:37Non ho voluto nessun campione da copiare perché volevo realizzare una maschera mia.
08:44Sì, sì.
08:45Non sono un artigiano.
08:47Mi recluto un manovale del legno.
08:50Io faccio quello che vuole il legno, non quello che voglio io.
08:53Lasciami vedere il martello.
08:57Sì, sì.
08:58Questo è il legno arancio e...
09:00Orange wood.
09:01E lei si ha fatto per lei la maschera perfetta per la bocca, no?
09:06Sì, sì, sì.
09:09Sì, sì.
09:09Vedi.
09:11Ah, sì.
09:13Fatto a misura.
09:17Sì, sì.
09:17He works the wood very, very freely.
09:20What is remarkable is how he's able to carve out that solid piece of wood
09:24and he leaves quite a thin skin of wood here, which forms the mask.
09:34It's just branded the mask.
09:36You might think it says for sale.
09:39No, his name is Franco Salle.
09:43And so the entire outer surface of the mask is now burned with a red hot iron.
09:50Every part of the mask has now been burnt.
09:53And it's left it with a menacing sheave.
09:56As though it had absorbed all the evil of the world,
10:01all the evil of the winter.
10:04And now its purpose is to repel the evil that surrounds it.
10:12Parvedere, let me see.
10:16Siamo maestro.
10:18Fantastico.
10:19Grazie.
10:21It's a puzzle that on an island that has been Christian for centuries,
10:27still the pagan thrives.
10:39I return to Nuoro to take the regional line across the island to Macomere.
10:50This lovely class ADE diesel-powered rail car
10:53was part of a fleet specially commissioned for Sardinia's railways in the 1950s.
10:59This scenic narrow-gauge line was built in 1889
11:03as part of the island's secondary rail network
11:06aimed at opening up the interior.
11:08However, Sardinia owes much of its main railway network
11:12to a man from the valleys of rural Mid-Wales.
11:20Some people seem to cram more than one lifetime into their span on earth.
11:25And such a one was a Welsh civil engineer called Benjamin Peercy
11:29who had won a formidable reputation in his native land
11:33for many feats of railway construction
11:37before being invited to Sardinia
11:39where he oversaw many sites and lines and structures
11:43in a challenging landscape
11:46that might have reminded him of home.
12:17Just outside the town of Sardinia
12:18of Macomere in a place known locally as the Valley of the Willows
12:22is the family home that he built in the late 19th century Villa Peercy
12:28where I'm meeting historian Giovanni Fiordi.
12:39Giovanni, hello.
12:40Hello, Michael.
12:41Lovely to see you.
12:42Nice to meet you.
12:43So this villa was built by Benjamin Peercy?
12:45Yes, it was built by Benjamin Peercy, but only the first floor.
12:49Mm-hm.
12:50It was just a hunting lodge.
12:52And then his son, Harry Hangerton, built the houses we see today.
12:58Peercy's fame derived from his success building railways
13:02in the forbidding terrain of Wales,
13:05including the Tel Aviv cutting and the viaduct at Barmouth.
13:09He was recruited by the Royal Sardinian Railway Company
13:12to complete a challenging plan to drive lines
13:15through the mountainous heart of the island.
13:18It was known as the Baratelli Project.
13:24So he was appointed to improve Baratelli Project
13:29and connect all the small villages in Sardinia
13:34with a great railway line from the south to the north of Sardinia.
13:39Perhaps from Baratelli Project,
13:41he cut off 20 kilometres of the track.
13:44Ah, which made it...
13:46Of the original track.
13:47Which made it cheaper.
13:48Mm-hm, yes.
13:49He was not only an engineer, he was also a businessman.
13:53And so he bought a lot of...
13:56thousands of hectares of land.
13:59And he also created a farm, a modern farm,
14:04the most modern farm in the Mediterranean area.
14:08He had an innovative machine to sterilize milk.
14:13And he traded all these products in Cagliari,
14:16in a shop that he created to sell his product.
14:20And also export with the railway road in Italy
14:24and all over the Mediterranean area.
14:27So this is brilliant.
14:29He's able to export his dairy products
14:32using the railway that he's just built.
14:34That's very clever.
14:35And bought this land near the new railway.
14:39And bought the land.
14:39Of course, he built this land in 1879.
14:43And he finished the railroad in 1880.
14:48So just one year after,
14:50he had a lot of lands
14:54in the middle of the new line.
14:57Giving enormous value to his own land.
14:59He's not casual.
15:01So, I mean, he's such a versatile figure, isn't he?
15:03He was a good businessman.
15:05He was a good farmer.
15:06He was an innovator, entrepreneur.
15:09And by the way, family man.
15:10He had a huge family as well.
15:12Yes, he had a big family.
15:13He had nine children, six male and three female.
15:18You wonder how there was time.
15:20Villa Piersi became the Sardinian home
15:23of several generations of the Piersi family.
15:26As the president of the Benjamin Piersi Association,
15:30Mario Boussa can show me.
15:43Prego.
15:44Mario.
15:45Ciao, Michael.
15:46Benvenuto a Villa Piersi.
15:47Grazie.
15:48Benvenuto.
15:49It's wonderful to be in this house.
15:52It seems that this is where the Piersi family had tea.
15:56Esattamente.
15:57Qui la famiglia Piersi beveva il tè.
16:00Naturalmente, dopo pranzo, si riposava un po',
16:03leggeva i libri di allora,
16:05e si riposava e prendeva il tè.
16:06Questa era la sala da tè, la sala un po' da pranzo.
16:08Quando c'erano molti ospiti,
16:11la utilizzavano come sala da pranzo.
16:13Il tè è molto importante per la gente britannica.
16:17Certo.
16:18Sì, sì.
16:19But this part of the house didn't exist in Benjamin Piersi's time.
16:23No.
16:24Qui dove siamo noi non l'ha costruito Piersi.
16:27Benjamin Piersi ha fatto solo il semi-interratto.
16:30Dove io adesso ti porto.
16:32Per favore.
16:34Avanti.
16:41Ah, the library, la biblioteca.
16:44La biblioteca.
16:45What did Benjamin Piersi do for Sardinia?
16:48Non tanto, tantissimo.
16:51Ha fatto tantissimo perché ha progettato le ferrovie, la sassa di Cagliari, che è una cosa importantissima, perché prima si
16:59andava con l'asinello, si attraversavano i paesi con l'asinello, col cavallo o col mulo.
17:04Adesso col treno, invece, ha dato un impulso economico molto forte al progresso della Sardegna.
17:11Benjamin Piersi, tanto che il comune di Bolottana e di Macomery hanno conferito la cittadinanza onoraria.
17:18Almeno per me, è stata una figura molto importante in Sardegna.
17:31Michael, questo è il fan club Benjamin Piersi.
17:36Nice to meet you, Michael.
17:38Piacere.
17:38And we know each other already.
17:43Alla salute di Benjamin Piersi.
17:45To Benjamin Piersi.
17:47To Benjamin Piersi.
17:47To Benjamin Piersi, at the site of his hunting lodge.
17:52Cheers.
17:54Mmm.
17:56Now, having drunk a toast to the great man,
17:59might it be possible to hear a song?
18:02Yes, of course, sir.
18:04Maria Giovanna Kerchi is an acclaimed Sardinian folk singer.
18:08A manos tenta e strintas un pare
18:13Frades, kim frader, devimo stare
18:42A manos tenta e stronti e stronti e stronti e stronti.
18:46Dae su sole Sardegna se sasada
18:51Intundu dae esas serras a su mare
18:55Isolaghi deve solo amare
19:01Bravissima!
19:02Singing about Sardegna, your love of Sardegna.
19:06Thank you so much.
19:09An ideal send-off as I continue my journey.
19:30I'm now leaving Macomer and heading north-east,
19:33where standard and narrow-gauge rail lines snake across the land
19:37to the small town of Calanjanus, my final destination in Sardegna.
19:42MUSIC PLAYS
19:49There's a lovely Italian custom
19:51that when you eat in public you tend to offer food to other people,
19:56for example, in your railway compartment.
19:58And so, in that spirit,
20:01they offer you a rice ball and arancino,
20:05or would you perhaps like a salami and cheese sandwich
20:09in a tortoiseshell bun?
20:11Oh, you've already eaten.
20:14Well, the thought was there.
20:38The countryside around the town is known for its forbidding granite cliffs and mountains.
20:48This is the time and place to talk about the Quercus suber,
20:53which is the Latin for the cork oak tree.
20:57And from that we get the word suberin,
21:00which is a complex chemical compound which is hydrophobic,
21:05literally fearful of water.
21:08That is to say that it repels liquids.
21:11As you can see, I am gushing information today.
21:15Time to put a stopper in it.
21:22Cork oak trees grow all around the Mediterranean,
21:25but on this island they're a crucial crop.
21:28More than 80% of Italy's cork forests are found in northeastern Sardinia.
21:35A local cork factory harvests this forest.
21:39Andrea Martinez is its agronomist
21:42and can explain why cork oaks are so abundant here.
21:47Because here in Sardinia he finds the conditions perfect for its growth,
21:53which is a climate,
21:55let's talk about a granite substrate,
21:57a cold climate.
21:59Other characteristics of this plant
22:00are, for example,
22:01that it is resistant to the acidity,
22:04it is also resistant to the fire attacks
22:07and it is a plant that does not tolerate the gel.
22:10So these climate characteristics
22:11make it better for its growth in this context.
22:15How often, then, do you strip one of these trees?
22:19First of all, a first decortica,
22:22the debarking,
22:23when the plant has 25-30 years
22:26or reaches a circumference
22:29of its trunk
22:30at a height of 1,30 m,
22:32of at least 60 cm.
22:34And then the first decortica can occur.
22:37The product, which is called
22:39sugarone or sugaromaschio,
22:41so virgin cork,
22:42is a product that is used mainly
22:45for the realization of panels
22:47for the bio-utilization,
22:49so for the isolation.
22:50Then, after this first decortica,
22:52they have to pass
22:53at least 10 years,
22:55generally are 12,
22:56but at least 10 years
22:57at least,
22:57at least 10 years
22:57of the next decortica.
22:59And here, what happens?
23:00The virgin cork
23:02is changing,
23:03and it becomes a sweet sugar
23:05and, as I've said,
23:07it is extracted
23:07at least 10 years.
23:09This sugar is,
23:10in fact,
23:11suitable for the production
23:11of the tappies
23:13for the enology,
23:14the cork stoppers.
23:16The plant can then
23:17continue to produce
23:18until about 250 years.
23:21in Italy.
23:28Trading for over 100 years,
23:32Sugerificio Molinas
23:33is Italy's
23:34largest producer
23:35of cork stoppers.
23:37They make 800 million
23:40of them every year
23:41at their factory
23:43where sales manager
23:44Paolo Molinas
23:45is my guide.
23:48Paolo,
23:49I'm quite surprised
23:50to see how many
23:51of the operations
23:52apparently are still
23:53done by hand.
23:54The cutting of the cork
23:56and here,
23:57the extrication
23:58of the stopper
23:58from the cork.
24:00Yeah, of course.
24:00You're right, Michael.
24:01The operator
24:02has to be very expert
24:04to find the right spot
24:06to make
24:07or down-make
24:08the cork.
24:09The cork
24:10is very important
24:11to the bottle.
24:12I mean,
24:12you might be providing
24:13a cork
24:14for a bottle of wine
24:16that costs hundreds
24:17or thousands
24:18of euros
24:19and the cork
24:20could destroy it.
24:22Yeah, yeah.
24:23We have the potential
24:23to ruin
24:24months of work
24:26from our way makers
24:27just with
24:28this
24:29small piece
24:30of cork.
24:31So,
24:32our clients
24:33trust us a lot.
24:35We are kind of
24:36working together
24:37to make
24:38the bottle
24:38be the
24:40best
24:40possible bottle ever.
24:42When something
24:44goes wrong
24:44with the cork,
24:45when the wine
24:47doesn't smell good,
24:48when it is
24:49what we call
24:50in English
24:50corked,
24:51what has gone wrong?
24:52What has been the problem?
24:53Yeah, usually
24:55when corks
24:56smell badly
24:58they contain
25:00a molecule
25:01that's called TCA.
25:02So,
25:03it's like a fungus
25:04that develops
25:06in the cork bark
25:08when the bark
25:10is still attached
25:11to the plant.
25:12So,
25:13our main goal
25:14is to find out
25:16barks
25:17which has
25:17unfortunately
25:18this substance
25:19and
25:20eliminate it
25:21from the production.
25:22And how do you do that?
25:23Do you have some
25:23chemical process
25:24that can detect
25:26the fungus?
25:27Well,
25:28actually we do that
25:29mainly in two ways.
25:31With
25:31some machines
25:32that can
25:33scan
25:34the stopper
25:35and find
25:36if there is TCA
25:37but
25:38also
25:39we make it
25:40with
25:41human noses.
25:42Human noses?
25:43Human noses.
25:44Of course.
25:45The factory
25:47has a
25:47sensory panel
25:48of specially
25:49trained sniffers.
25:51Someone
25:51with a nose
25:52for a bad cork
25:53is
25:53Mariangela Chaffia.
25:56Buongiorno
25:56panel
25:57sensoriale.
25:58Buongiorno.
25:59Piacere mio.
26:01Buongiorno.
26:02Mariangela.
26:03Buongiorno.
26:05Allora.
26:06Molto interessante.
26:07Very interesting
26:07what happens
26:08in here.
26:10So these ladies
26:10have the expertise
26:11to tell
26:13if a cork
26:14is bad.
26:15E non tutti
26:15lo abbiamo.
26:16No, esatto.
26:17Non tutti hanno
26:18questa predisposizione
26:20appunto naturale.
26:21Quindi prima
26:21viene valutato
26:22a questo
26:23e poi possono fare
26:24l'addestramento
26:25di 240 ore
26:27per poi
26:27essere inseriti
26:28in questo panel.
26:30Posso avere
26:31io anche?
26:32Could I possibly
26:33have the natural
26:34ability to do this?
26:35Puoi averla, Mari.
26:36Non lo sai.
26:38Puoi avere
26:38una predisposizione
26:39naturale
26:40oppure
26:40non avere
26:42questa predisposizione
26:43e soffrire
26:44di quello che si dice
26:44di anosmia
26:45e non sentire gli odori.
26:47I'll try and take
26:48the test.
26:49OK.
26:50The bad corks
26:52are in the red bucket.
26:55Pronti?
27:20I'm clearly a natural
27:21at sniffing out anything that threatens the sanctity of fine wine.
27:33I
27:34raised a glass to Benjamin Peercy with feeling because without the bold railways that he built it would have been
27:40impossible for me to reach the parts of
27:43Sardinia that I have on this railway journey. I
27:47never expected to discover anything as
27:49mysterious and earthy as the mammoth Onis and I will long remember what I saw to appreciate this island you
27:58need to get beneath its skin like peeling back the bark on a tree
28:08Next time
28:09As we analyze this bronze we realize that actually the statue has a wrong head. So this is the genuine
28:17bronze head remarkable
28:19This lovely tradition of polyphony, does it mean something special to you as a Corsican?
28:23Yes, it's our identity
28:25Help me to understand the size of the problem. How many forest fires might you have?
28:31On a good year we can have 200, 300 fires. In a bad year it can be catastrophic
28:49I
28:50I
29:07Like a
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