Here you will find an overview of the infographics that are located along the trail to reach Capo Figari, retracing the footsteps of Guglielmo Marconi in Golfo Aranci.
In the footsteps of Marconi in Golfo Aranci
Look at the photographs and read the full text of the panels included in the “Historical – Cultural – Naturalistic Trail from Golfo Aranci to Capo Figari.”
Infographic at Cala Moresca
Guglielmo Marconi at Capo Figari
In the summer of 1932, Capo Figari was the scene of experiments in radiotelephony and microwave radio telegraphy conducted by Guglielmo Marconi. The famous scientist arrived in Golfo Aranci on August 10 aboard the Elettra, his laboratory ship purchased in 1919, and the following day, the equipment (the receiving reflector) was transported to the lighthouse of Capo Figari, so that in the afternoon reception tests were conducted from Rocca di Papa (269 km distant). After appropriate adjustments, the results were excellent until sunset, while during the evening hours it was confirmed that the signals experienced strong attenuation. The experiments ended around midnight.
Cala Moresca
Cala Moresca is the most famous of the coves along the coast of Golfo Aranci, and it likely derives its name from “figu morisca,” which is how prickly pear is called in Sardinian. You can still see the abandoned remains of industrial plants for the production of lime, activated by the Tamponi family between the 1950s and the 1960s. The small building that once housed the caretaker of the plants also belongs to the aforementioned family, like the entire peninsula of Capo Figari.
Audouin's Gull
The Audouin's gull nests in late spring, and the eggs hatch almost a month after laying, with the male helping the female with incubation.
Infographic at the junction Capo Figari - Punta Filasca
The yacht Elettra
Purchased in 1919 and transformed by Marconi into a floating laboratory, for nearly two decades the yacht Elettra sailed throughout the Mediterranean for primarily scientific purposes. Memorable was the radio signal that lit up the lights of the City Hall of Sydney, Australia from the port of Genoa (1930) and the first experiment of "blind navigation" in the port of Sestri Levante (1934). It was aboard the Elettra, during cruises that lasted several months, that Marconi conducted some of the experiments that paved the way for recent developments in wireless technology.
English Cemetery
To reach the lighthouse of Capo Figari continue left; the path indicated on the right will lead you towards Cala Greca (which perhaps takes its name from the shipwreck of a Greek vessel in 1888), where the small shipwreck cemetery lies, known as the English Cemetery, due to the presence of a tomb belonging to sailor G. C. Bradshaw, a sailor of the British ship HMS Vulcan, which was anchored in Golfo Aranci in June 1900. The first burials date back to 1887.
Crested Cormorant
The crested cormorant spreads its wings after diving to dry its feathers. Unlike other birds, it does not have enough insulating fat.
Signage with a sea view on the Capo Figari trail
In the signage found along the trail leading up to the Marconi Lighthouse in Golfo Aranci, you can find interesting information about local fauna, Mediterranean scrub, and typical plants of Sardinia.
The Origins of Wireless
In the last years of the 1800s, a twenty-year-old Guglielmo Marconi initiated the peaceful revolution of radio communications. Born in Bologna in 1874, young Marconi quickly developed a desire to become an inventor and, at Villa Griffone - his family home located on the first hills of Bologna - he conducted the first experiments in wireless telegraphy in 1895. That house is now home to the Marconi Foundation and Museum, which recounts the beginnings of the inventor and the developments of wireless from Marconi's beginnings to the present day.
Promontory of Capo Figari
The promontory of Capo Figari (m. 342 above sea level) defines the northern side of the Gulf of Olbia, which is in turn closed to the south by the promontory of Capo Caraso and the Isola di Tavolara, with which Capo Figari shares a calcareous geological origin. The name Figari once encompassed a much larger area, also including the isthmus where, in the 1880s, Golfo Aranci was established, stretching all the way to the Gulf of Marinella. In classical antiquity, the promontory was known as Columbarium promontorium.
Wax myrtle
Renowned for its multiple properties, it produces a resin that tones the skin and prevents aging.
Olive tree
The olive tree has a remarkable longevity, believed to reach a thousand years of life.
Signage before reaching the lighthouse
The Semaphore of Capo Figari
The Semaphore, located at the summit of Capo Figari (m 342 asl), was inaugurated in 1890 and built by the Royal Navy to communicate and provide information to passing ships using combinations of flags, signals, and semaphore apparatus. In 1905, it was transferred to the Ministry of Defense, while in 1932 important experiments in radiotelegraphy and microwave radiotelephony were carried out by Guglielmo Marconi. The building. Today reduced to ruins, the complex was definitively abandoned at the end of the 1950s.
