Textiles of Sardinia

Enjoy a full-day hand-sewing workshop with Karin. Refreshments will be served part-way through the morning and afternoon sessions, and we’ll enjoy lunch at the hotel.

The evening is yours to enjoy at leisure. Either eat at the hotel bistro or make your way to central Olbia (approx. 15 mins walk) for a variety of restaurants.

Aggius is a small town, well known for its landscape, shaped by granitic rocks, and for its traditional houses, built with the same granite rock. The village is also known for its beautiful carpets and fine textiles. Here we’ll visit the MEOC (Museo Etnografico Oliva Carta Cannas), which presents examples of history and popular traditions from 1600 to today with particular attention given to weaving, an age-old practice that continues to this day. We’ll watch the weavers at work in the permanent studio set up in the museum.

Tempio Pausania is a large town with a picturesque old town of granite buildings and paving. The town is famous for working both granite and cork. Here we’ll find the studio of Anna Grindi, a fashion designer who has transformed the typical product of the region, cork, into fabric, which she uses to create clothes and accessories for haute couture brands. Cork fabric is soft and velvety, impalpable like silk, but above all, 100% natural. Anna produces fabrics in three different thicknesses along with yarn from 3 to 6mm.

Evening at leisure. Either eat at the hotel bistro or make your way to central Olbia (approx. 15 mins walk), for a variety of restaurants.

Check out of our hotel and travel to Nule, a town famous for its woven woollen textiles. Here we’ll visit the studio of Eugenia Pina, rug maker. Eugenia grew up in Nule and trained as a designer at the Instituto Europeo di Design in Cagliari. Traditional craft and contemporary design merge in her creations. Whilst Eugenia’s knowledge of local materials and traditional weaving skills form the basis of her designs, to that she brings her distinctive personality, modern methodology, a refined use of colour and an unceasing search for and study of traditional motifs. The rugs that leave her studio are not just decorative pieces, they are art.

We’ll enjoy an included lunch in Nule before continuing to Oliena and check in to our hotel. This afternoon we’ll enjoy a two-hour embroidery workshop at the hotel.

The commune of Orgosolo is famous for its murals, reflecting different aspects of Sardinia’s political struggles as well as international issues. Here we’ll take a tour of the murals and visit the studio of Maria Corda, producer and weaver of silk. There are historical records of silkworm breeding in Orgosolo as far back as the early 1700s and the women in Maria’s family have been breeding silkworms and weaving for about 200 years.

Very few women could weave silk in Orgosolo, but silkworm breeding was widespread. Every Orgosolo women would produce the silk she needed to make her own ‘su lionzu’, an elegant headdress which is part of the region’s traditional dress. The silk would then be taken to Maria’s family for weaving.

We’ll enjoy a lunch of local produce, served by local shepherds, including Sardinian cheeses, sausage, roasted piglet (porcheddu) Carasau bread (thin, crispy flatbread) and Cannonau (red) wine followed by a demonstration of cantu, a style of polyphonic singing, recognised by UNESCO as an example of intangible cultural heritage.

We return to our hotel for dinner.

We check out of our hotel and travel to Nuoro, an important cultural centre in central eastern Sardinia and home to some of the most important museums on the island. The Museum of Sardinian Popular Life and Traditions is the largest ethnographic museum in Sardinia. The museum tells the story of life on the island through over 5,000 exhibits, from work to celebration, ways of living to dressing, food to religion. A large area of the ground floor is dedicated to weaving including traditional weaving tools and materials of various types, dates and origin. Upstairs, there is an extraordinary collection of traditional costume.

The town of Samugheo has an incredibly valuable textile craft heritage handed down over the centuries, known for its production of rugs, tapestries and traditional clothing. Here we’ll visit the Museum of Sardinian Textile Art (MURATS), established in 2002 to recover and conserve the historical textile memory of Sardinia, through the retrieval of artifacts that were mainly being stored in village houses. The collection brings together a vast collection of items from all over the island including tablecloths, blankets, sheets, chest covers, shepherd’s clothing and traditional costumes.

Continue to our hotel in Oristano and enjoy the evening at leisure. There is a restaurant at the hotel or make your way to central Oristano (approx. 10 min walk) for a variety of restaurants.

We check out of our hotel and travel to Bosa, one of Sardinia’s most beautiful towns, with pastel houses stacked on a steep hillside leading up to a majestic castle. Here, we’ll visit the Manos de Oro Cultural Association, to learn about the distinctive filet lace that can be found here, typified by stylised motifs from the natural world including animals, birds and plants.

Lunch and a Malvasia (sweet) wine tasting is included today.

Castello Malaspina is a hilltop castle built in the 12th and 13th centuries by the Malaspina family. Little remains of the original structure apart from its imposing walls and a series of stone towers. Inside a 14th century chapel is adorned with an extraordinary fresco depicting saints.

Continue to our hotel in Alghero. Located on the Mediterranean coast, Alghero is the fifth largest city in Sardinia and the island’s main harbour town. It has one of Sardinia’s most beautiful historical centres.

Enjoy an evening at leisure. There is a restaurant at the hotel or make your way to central Alghero (5 minutes' walk) for a variety of restaurants.

This morning, enjoy a half-day hand-sewing workshop with Karin. Refreshments will be served part way through the session.

Enjoy a walking tour of the city this afternoon followed by an evening at leisure. There is a restaurant at the hotel or make your way to central Alghero (a 5 minute walk) for a variety of restaurants.

We check out of our hotel and travel to Castelsardo. The Museum of Mediterranean Weaving (MIM) is located inside the striking medieval castle, Doria Castle. The castle was built in the 12th century by the noble Doria family as a military stronghold and still dominates the panorama of this charming town. The museum preserves the ancient tradition of handwoven baskets through a variety of artifacts, woven with plant fibres from Sardinia and other Mediterranean countries. The tradition of weaving is of strategic importance in the town. Local elders tell that in hard times, such as wars, people were able to make a living from making these baskets, that were used to collect and store grains, bread and other supplies. As we walk around the streets of the old part of town, we'll see baskets on display in stores and workshops; colourful, decorated and in the most diverse shapes.

Continue to Olbia, with a stop at the Elephant's Rock, a large boulder that has been eroded by the elements into the shape of an elephant. Inside there are two ancient tombs, dating back to around 4400–2300 BC.