The castle of Medusa.
Between Laconi and Samugheo

This legend takes me to the land of my grandmother: Sardinia. I had been looking for a ghostly story like this in Sardinia, then one day I read about this ruin on a mountain top that is inhabited by the spirit of Medusa.

Together with my sister and cousin we rode to the top with very steep, wobbly and small paths. Once or twice we thought we had taken a wrong turn. But then finally we arrived. There was just a small hike left to the castle, that is positioned on this strange strategic spot surrounded by mountains and nature.

The story of Medusa, and her links with Sardinia are complex. In Greek mythology the story goes that her sister couldn’t live with how beautiful Medusa was and made her into the snake haired woman we know today. And as a curse, Medusa’s gaze could turn you into stone.

In Sardinia there are a few places where she is mentioned as a legend. The tone the stories are also different; here she is seen as a beautiful courages queen, guarding her treasures in the castle and the caves of the mountain. It is said that she ruled Sardinia for 28 years, in the Byzantine era.

This search for me was about finding her, but it also intertwined with the history of the land and of my grandmother. Folktales tell you so much about the region, and it made me feel closer to my family because of this visit. The trees, the often untouched tough land, the Nuraghe (the stone formation), the sea and the caves are all important heritage of Sardinia. They also belong to the memory of my grandmother as well.

There is very little concrete information I can find about the Medusa of Sardinia, and about the history of this place. The only way, again, is to go there and experience it yourself. The place tells its own history, and Medusa must be there.