John Warre Tyndale

Published in London in 1849, the work “The Island of Sardinia” was immediately a great success both in England and in Ireland. Tyndale is a Londoner with an Oxford degree in humanistic and legal disciplines, who almost by chance - on a convalescent trip - arrived in Sardinia in the spring of 1843, where he discovers a new and completely unknown world to which he will immediately feel connected, to the earth as well as to its history: already in the preface he declares that he dedicated himself first of all to the knowledge of the fundamental works of Sardinian culture, both ancient (Arquer, Cetti, Gemelli) and contemporary (Della Marmora, Tola, Manno, Angius) to fill a void and free the island from the 'waste of the legendary. ' On this basis, a description is about to be drawn up as detailed - and literary - as possible, to compensate for the scant accounts that until then had told about Sardinia in England, that is, Smith's hydrographic survey and Mac Gregor's commercial investigation.
The Englishman's journey therefore begins in Alghero and then continues through Nurra, Gallura and Goceanum, touching many of their small towns. From there, the traveler goes to Barbagia, to Gennargentu, then to Ogliastra, to the Oristano area and from there to the Campidano and with equal care in the south of the island, to Cagliari, which fascinates him for the quantity and beauty of its monuments, its churches, the magnificence of the Pisan towers. A journey completed almost by municipality, where everything is written down carefully, starting with the names of the nuraghi themselves, up to embracing the entire historical, anthropological and archaeological heritage. The most interesting part of the work is the one dedicated to customs and customs, described with participatory passion and with the awareness of recounting a timeless civilization with mysterious origins, as evidenced by the part dedicated to the description of the tombs of giants and “fittas”, or “Sardinian idolets”, that is, mysterious bronzes, which he tries to explain in the light of his classical culture.
Some of the Sardinians are struck by their innate hospitality, rituality within a very strong faith and devotion, strength and courage; rather than giving in - like many - to the evidence of a backwardness that is easy to underline, he tries to motivate the causes. The result is an impressive work of about a thousand pages, an investigation that through England has become the heritage of the whole of Europe

Update

25/6/2026 - 13:30