CAVES OF SARDINIA: Neptune's Cave - Alghero ( SS)

The Neptune's cave takes its name from the Roman god of the sea; it is the most famous amoung Sardinia's caves.

It can be reached by a flight of steps,the "Escala del Cabirol", which clings to the ridge west of the head reaching the mouth of the cave or by sea, trough boats departing from the' main port of Alghero. It's a service that operates during the tourist season (summertime) and the package includes transfer and visit in about three hours. The access to the cave is feasible through a passage covered of vegetation,until reaching a lake fed by the sea.

La cave offers a setting of incomparable beauty and characterized by exceptional concretions and the limpidity of its inland lake. It's a huge cave which has a total length of 2,500 meters, with several "halls", wide galleries, crystalline lakes, deep wells, narrow tunnels that make its stucture very complex.

Through a footpath is possile to get to a column that rises up to the natural
archway roof whith which forms other two spectacular arches.
Further, columns course leads to the lake hollow,called "the Palace", from where you can admire a white sandy beach, and, in the farthest part of the cave, you can also see a natural "terrace" called "the music Tribune".

To the right side, where it opens an area closed to the public and accessible only by speleologist, we found a path that leads up to that is commonly known as "Mushrooms Lake", and then, through a tunnel called "The Subway, to the huge hall where the right-hand side is occupied by the known as "Lunar Lake"

Geologically the "Capo Caccia" promontory that hosts the whole cave system, it seems to consists by rocks of the Cretaceous period , whose age is between 135 and 65 million years.

THE SARDINIAN LANGUAGE ( Limba Sarda or Sardu)

Each geographical area of Sardinia has had a historical evolution with different linguistic influences that still characterize the different varieties of Sardinian, called by Sardinian native speakers “Sardu” or in general “Limba Sarda” . What is constant is the sound and musicality .
The Sardinian is the most characteristic of Latin idioms ; In fact , while the other Romance languages were changing during the centuries , Sardinia , and then the “Sardu”, in its isolation , it preserves the original peculiarities of this language with its illustrious origins , Greek and Latin .

1700 marks the passage of Sardinia from Spanish rule to the Piemontese kingsdom and, for the first half of the century remains a bilingual situation : the Sardinian and Spanish. It was later imposed on the use of Italian as an official language and at the same time was reduced the scope of use of the Latin.
The real break begins with the unification of Italy (after 1861) .
The Italian language becomes more and more official . The dialect , however, was still widespread .

The term “Limba Sarda” (Sardinian Language) includes all Sardinia with the exception of Alghero, the Catalan linguistic island , and of Carloforte and Calasetta genoese linguistic islands (called Tabarkino)

The Sardo is divided into five main types :

- Nuorese , spoken in the center of the island and with Goceano with its main center in teh city of Nuoro ;
- Gallurese , spoken in the north- eastern part of Sardinia ;
- Sassarese , spoken in Sassari city and around territories;
- Logudorese , spoken in the central- northern Sardinia ;
- Campidanese in the south of the island.

While the Nuorese and Logudorese are the languages that have suffered less than any other continental influences , the Campidanese , while retaining the characteristic features of Sardinian language, is closer to the Italian dialects of south-central type .
The Gallura and Sassari also have had strong continental influence ; they belong to Tuscan type-languages , even if they are developed alongside the “Sardu”.