San Francesco di Lula

On the night between 30 April and 1 May, a procession of people on foot and on horseback sets off from the church of the Solitudine in Nuoro, where Grazia Deledda is buried. Ahead of them lie about thirty-five kilometres of roads and paths through the countryside of Barbagia and the Baronia, up to the sanctuary of San Francesco on the hills of Monte Albo, in the territory of Lula. They will arrive at dawn. It is the pilgrimage closest to the hearts of the people of Nuoro, and one of the most evocative in Sardinia.

The legend of the bandit

The birth of the sanctuary is linked to a story with the flavour of a novel. It is said that a man from Nuoro, Francesco Tolu, wrongly accused of murder, hid for years in a cave in the mountains of Lula. There he prayed to St Francis and promised that, if acquitted, he would build a church in his honour. He was acquitted, and kept his promise.

Grazia Deledda, who knew the sanctuary and the festival well, tells the story in her novel Elias Portolu, where the hero takes part in the novena and the legend becomes that of a bandit tired of life on the run who gives himself up to justice. The church, probably built as early as the 16th century, was enlarged and renovated in 1795 in folk Baroque style; around it stand the small houses where the faithful stay during the novena.

The novena

The May festival begins with the arrival of the pilgrims and continues with the novena: nine days of prayer, masses and communal life at the sanctuary. The priors, chosen in turn from families of Nuoro and Lula, organise the festival and prepare meals for all the faithful. At the end of the novena the new prior receives the standard, which he will keep until the following year.

A second novena is held in early October, for the liturgical feast of St Francis of Assisi on 4 October, with another, quieter pilgrimage.

Su filindeu

The feast of San Francesco di Lula is also famous for a dish eaten almost only here: su filindeu, the threads of God. It is a pasta made of durum wheat semolina, water and salt, worked by hand by a very few women in Nuoro using a technique handed down in their families: the dough is stretched and folded again and again until it becomes hundreds of very fine threads, which are laid in three crossed layers on an asphodel board and left to dry for about a day. The result is a kind of veil, which is broken and cooked in mutton broth with fresh pecorino.

During the novena su filindeu is offered to pilgrims at the sanctuary, in keeping with the tradition of hospitality. Alongside it su zurrette is served, a shepherds' dish made with sheep's blood. Su filindeu is considered one of the rarest pastas in the world, and its fate depends on the few hands that still know how to make it.

Monte Albo and Lula

The sanctuary stands in a beautiful landscape at the foot of Monte Albo, the limestone ridge between Barbagia and the Baronia. Lula, a few kilometres away, is a village of shepherds and miners, also known for its Carnival with Su Battileddu and for the old Sos Enattos mine. From the heights you can see the sea at Siniscola and Posada.

Tips

The night pilgrimage is open to all but requires good fitness: you walk all night, often in the cold, so ask at the Solitudine parish or join an organised group. Alternatively you can drive to the sanctuary on the morning of 1 May to see the pilgrims arrive and attend mass. During the novena the sanctuary is open to visitors; remember that it is a place of prayer and community life. For somewhere to stay, choose between Nuoro, Lula and the Baronia towns such as Siniscola and Posada, half an hour from the sea.