Il Filet di Bosa

Sardinia is linked by long tradition to the arts of embroidery, lace and weaving; but the king of women's handicrafts is represented by the famous Filet of Bosa. An embroidery technique whose origins are deeply linked to the male world of fishing, the Bosa filet is one of the Sardinia's oldest and most prized textile crafts, the tradition of which has been preserved and passed down from generation to generation thanks to the older Bosa women who have transferred it to the younger ones. In fact, there is no woman in Bosa who since childhood has not learned this embroidery technique, which is done with a needle on a ground consisting of a wide, square mesh (randa), tied together with small knots.

Besides the laborious loom technique, what makes such embroidery unique are the themes of its extremely refined designs, in Sardinian "sas mustras", which recall figurative patterns also found in tapestries, carpets and some wooden decorations. Geometric motifs: such as rhombuses, spirals, waves; plant-inspired motifs: such as vine shoots, bunches of grapes, trees, buds and pomegranates; animal-inspired: such as pigeons and lapwings, deer and horses; heraldics: such as coats of arms, crowns and castles, but also religious-inspired motifs such as chalices and monstrances, mainly coming from the religious symbolism of Byzantine monks.

The traditional yarn for this type of work is natural linen, once widely grown in Sardinia but now often replaced by white cotton. Formerly used almost exclusively for draping the canopy bed (in Sardinian language: "cortinazos de zabaglione o lettu a crispiris"). Even today, walking through the narrow streets of the town, it's possible to observe women sitting on simple stuffed chairs on their doorsteps, offering the spectacle of this ancient art to visitors, tourists, enthusiasts and the merely curious.

The precious gold filigree jewelry

Bosa boasts a very ancient and highly prized goldsmithing tradition whose origins may be attributable to those same Phoenicians who founded it. This technique is based on the preparation of a thread, more or less long, coarse and regular, anciently made by hand, applying with infinite patience and precision the grains of molten gold or silver in the desired position. Casting is achieved by heating small segments of wire with a blowpipe; as the metal cools, it congeals into small regular spheres even as small as 0.03 inch in diameter. As for objects we remember rings, especially of gold, the buttons of popular festive costume, hoop earrings, brooches and pendants of certain necklaces, the fanciful medallions and crucifixes of rosaries and also small boxes and reliquaries.

The love for this art was skillfully enriched in the Catalan era so much so that the artisans of Bosa became master craftsmen skilled in the working of gold filigree and coral, the red gold, considered by experts to be among the best in the world for its compactness and variety of color gradations, once fished copiously off the Bosa' coasts. To this day, very good craftsmen operate in Bosa, capable of creating jewelry of rare perfection, reworking tradition in more modern and original lines.

Bosa is a place where the watchword is to wander aimlessly,
letting your instincts carry you, enchanted between glimpses.

January

St. Anthony Abbot

The festival begins with a mass celebrated in the church of the same name, adjacent to the Old Bridge,
and during the celebration blessed bread is delivered. The event begins towards evening when,
in the square along the river, a giant bonfire blessed by the chaplain is lit, which will remain lit
throughout the festive period.

The ritual involves people dancing around the fire making, according to ancient tradition,
three turns to the right and three turns to the left to ward off stomach ache.

During the days of the festivities, folk groups perform and stalls are set up in which typical products are sold.
It's precisely the feast of St. Anthony Abbot that marks the start date of the carnival.

February

Carrasegare 'Osincu (the Bosa Carnival)

In Bosa it's possible to experience carnival as protagonists and not just as mere spectators.
The whole community is involved in the masquerade and the satirical and licentious atmosphere of the festival,
transforming the city into a large outdoor theater, which doesn't spare personal situations
and public events that happened during the year.

On the Saturday evening preceding the concluding Shrove Tuesday, the "Cellars Saturday" is organized
along Via del Carmine (the street of the Masia Winery), at the foot of the medieval district of Sa Costa,
with wine and typical local dishes being offered to all present.
Sunday morning will continue with tastings of sweets and pancakes, accompanied by masks and music.

During the days of carnival, songs composed especially for the occasion are sung in the streets,
mocking those who have been "guilty" of particularly egregious actions over the course of the year,
and more often than not, it's municipal administrators who are the object of the verse barbs.

"Shrove Tuesday" represents the culmination of the festivities.
Celebrations begin in the morning with the funeral lament of S'Attittidu..
In "Total Black", the masks wear the traditional costume for mourning: long skirt, corset and wide black shawl
and carry a doll or something similar that often has a reference to sexual symbolism.
The masks, in falsetto voices, ask for "unu Tikkirigheddu 'e latte" - a drop of milk - S'Attittidu precisely,
to refresh the child who has been abandoned by his mother devoted to the revelry of Carnival.
Such a request allows for ambivalent metaphorical relationships with sexual allusions.

On Tuesday night, to end the festival, everyone wears the traditional white mask
(usually a sheet for a cape and a pillowcase for a hood) to look for the Giolzi Moro, the carnival king.
The search for King George (king of the carnival) symbolizes the hunt for the Carnival that escapes and hides in sex. Masks dressed in white search for Giolzi, illuminating the pubertal part of the people they encounter with a lamppost,
shouting: "Giolzi! Giolzi! Ciappadu! Ciappadu!" (repeating "I got him").
The festival ends with the huge puppets burning in the streets and squares of the city center,
marking the end of the carnival.

August

St. Mary of the Sea

The feast of Our Lady of the Sea, traditionally celebrated on the first Sunday of August,
is very evocative and engaging, as well as being the most deeply felt by the fishing community of Bosa,
the protagonists of the festivities, and the farmers of the area, to whom the feast was originally dedicated.

The festivities take place at two different times: in the morning, the simulacrum of the virgin is carried
in procession aboard a fishing boat, from the church of Stella Maris located in the marina area of Bosa Marina,
to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the city's historic center where a first mass is celebrated.
In the late afternoon, however, the most touching and "spectacular" moment of the festival takes place
when the Temo River fills with festively decorated boats and its banks witness the joyous invasion of the faithful
and onlookers who greet the passage of Our Lady as she returns to the small church in the maritime area.

It's against this backdrop that the rowdy procession of boats parades, accompanying the Virgin
down to the sea to the doorway of the church where the statue sits year-round.
Here the feast ends with a solemn mass officiated by the bishop of Bosa while waiting
for the fireworks exploded at midnight to light up the Aragonese tower and the gulf of Bosa Marina.

September

Regnos Altos (the castle festival)

The celebration of Our Lady of Regnos Altos occurs on Saturday and Sunday of the second week of September.
This is certainly one of the most anticipated events by the citizens of Bosa, not only for the religious aspect,
but also for the purely festive and popular one.

On Saturday afternoon the first festivities are held with the characteristic procession from the Malaspina Castle
to the Cathedral accompanied by the figurants in medieval dress and nineteenth-century Bosan tradition,
with the blessing of the evocative altars of the old Sa Costa district and the band accompanying the procession.
On Sunday afternoon, however, there is a second procession in reverse, from the Cathedral to the Castle.

A few days before Regnos Altos, the hill and streets of the historic center are decorated by men with branches,
reeds and little flags. On Saturday afternoon in the alleys, clearings and natural caves of the Sa Costa district,
women, as a sign of devotion, set up "altarittos": small altars adorned with flowers and the finest filet lace
on which they place prized statues of the Madonna.

The vigil and prayers are accompanied by the festivity of outdoor tables and vendors selling wine, Malvasia wine,
and simple food products of folk tradition ("fae a landinu", "azzada", "coccoi") — stewed broad beans with pork,
dogfish served in tomato and garlic sauce, red slightly spicy stewed snails — cooked for the occasion.