This time Francesca takes us to visit two towns of the Marmilla, the south central area of the island: Ales and Pau on the slopes of the mount Arci.

At Ales, maybe the smallest episcopal see in Italy, you should visit the cathedral dedicated to the Saints Peter and Paul, rebuilt and re-consecrated in 1688 over the remains of the previous church destroyed in 1683.

Pau is considered the town of the obsidian, due to the presence of this dark, rare and precious volcanic glass.
Here you can find workshops dedicated to the obsidian, used mostly by goldsmiths for jeweler’ crafts.
At Pau you should visit the museum of the obsidian, the only one in the Mediterranean basin.
A few notes:
Marmilla probably owes its name to the lie of the land formed by curved hills similar to “mammelle” (breasts) or maybe to the presence of several marshes that could be considered as “mille mari” (one thousands of seas).
This area was inhabited since in far-off times as testified by the scattered nuraghe.

photos:
[1]÷[13]: Ales
[14]÷[23]: Pau

A few notes:
Marmilla probably owes its name to the lie of the land formed by curved hills similar to “mammelle” (breasts) or maybe to the presence of several marshes that could be considered as “mille mari” (one thousands of seas).
This area was inhabited since in far-off times as testified by the scattered nuraghe.

For more info:
wikipedia: Ales
wikipedia: /Cattedrale_dei_Santi_Pietro_e_Paolo_(Ales)
wikipedia: Pau
www.museossidiana.it
wikipedia: Marmilla

Thank to our friend Francesca for the beautiful photographs