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INTRODUCTION |
  
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| Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, has two souls: that of the Sardinians in general and that of the people of Barbagia and the inland area in particular.
There is no contradiction in this claim concerning the identity of the inhabitants, it is none other than a local concept which means that the people of Barbagia, that is of the province of Nuoro, are ethnically different from the people of the coast and the other areas of Sardinia, as regards physical characteristic, culture and language. It is no advertising slogan to say that the inland areas and Barbagia are an island within the island, it is a consideration that emerges strongly from an undeniable geophysical and historical reality. The magistrate and writer, Salvatore Satta, was even more definite when speaking of the Sardiniand of his home town when he said that "....Nuoro, like Mecca, is not reached without a long preparation concerning spirit and things: and unless you are a bird or a hunter, you don't arrive from the sea".
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