April 28, 2024 marks a crucial anniversary in the history of Sardinia: exactly 230 years ago, the “Sardinian Vespers” shook Cagliari with an unprecedented popular rebellion. On 28 April 1794, the Sardinian people removed the Piedmontese and the viceroy Balbiano from Cagliari following the refusal of the Turin government to satisfy the requests of the titular island of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
An event that has been remembered every year since 1993 with the “Sa die de sa Sardigna” festival, established 31 years ago by the Regional Council of Sardinia, with the aim of remembering the courage and sacrifice of the Sardinian ancestors, who fought for the freedom of own people. Even today, “Sa die de sa Sardigna” is, together with the Feast of Sant’Efisio, the Saint who saved Cagliari from the plague, one of the most heartfelt anniversaries by the Sardinian population, so much so that it is remembered and celebrated every 28th April with demonstrations and events in various locations on the island.
History
The rebellions on the island began in the 1780s, and then continued into the 1990s. The Sardinians asked that he be granted greater autonomy with respect to the choices of the local ruling class and that he be given greater civil and military commitments. Upon yet another refusal on the part of the Savoy Crown to positively accept any request from the Sardinian people, the city bourgeoisie and the rest of the population organized the insurrectional movement. The spark that exploded the protest was the order from the viceroy Balbiano to arrest the Cagliaritan lawyers Vincenzo Cabras and Efisio Pintor, leaders of the patriotic party. On 28 April 1794, the population definitively removed from Cagliari all the officials and the viceroy himself, who in the month of May were taken on board and sent away from the island by force. Encouraged by the events in Cagliari, the inhabitants of Alghero and Sassari did the same.
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The celebrations in Cagliari
On the occasion of “Sa die sa Sardigna”, two days of celebrations promoted by the National Assembly (ANS) are planned in Cagliari, with a rich program of cultural events of historical dissemination, a meeting with international guests and many moments of celebration among the streets of the center: Palabanda, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza Yenne and the Bastione. After the “Aperinsardu” and the commemoration with the laying of a wreath of flowers at the Porta di Palabanda which took place yesterday, 27 April, the main celebrations are scheduled for this morning, at 10am, at Grotta Marcello, in Piazza Yenne, with the International Conference, which will see representatives of 6 stateless nations as guests for a discussion on identity, self-determination and national holidays.
Events in other cities
Sassari will celebrate the 2024 edition of “Sa die de sa Sardigna” with the inauguration of the Monument to the Sardinian revolutionaries killed between 1796 and 1802, between via Quarto and Largo Don Leonardo Carboni. The institutional celebration is scheduled for 10.30. While in Nuoro, the Higher Regional Ethnographic Institute of Sardinia has organized a full day of events which will take place from 10.30 to 14.00, at the “Giovanni Lilliu” Auditorium, in the Costume Museum complex. During the celebrations, three important awards will be given to as many “reference figures of the wise material and immaterial mastery of Sardinia”. The day’s program also includes the screenings of some videos in which the three protagonists awarded by Isre appear, as well as the presence of Sardinian poets and singers who will give their contribution with some performances. In Oristano, however, at 6pm, at the Garau Theatre, the winners of the poetry competition in the Sardinian language and in the other languages used in Sardinia “Eleonora in sarda rima”, organized by the Historical Institute of Arborea, will be awarded.
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