The
Strada statale 131
(SS131), is the major north-south highway in
Sardinia. It has been upgraded almost
completely to a four-line divided highway
(dual carriageway), connecting the
northwestern coastal town of Porto Torres to
the southern port and provincial capital of
Cagliari. It runs 230 km along the western
side of the main Sardinian mountain range.
Besides providing easy and fast access to
many of the major towns such as Sassari,
Alghero and Oristano on the way south. It
passes through some spectacular rugged
countryside and wide open spaces in the high
plains. North to south or vice versa—the 131
is a very pleasant way to see the island.
The 131 is also named the "Carlo Felice,"
named for Charles Felix of Savoy
(1765-1831), king (from 1821-1831) of
Piedmont-Sardinia during whose reign
construction began on the highway in the
1820s. (He was the grandfather of Victor
Emanuel II, the first king of united Italy.)
An early traveller had this to say (
from
Rambles
in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia
with Notices of their History,
Antiquities, and Present Condition
by Thomas Forester, pub. Longman, Brown,
Green, Longmans, and Roberts. London.
1858.):
Ozieri standing on the
verge of the great Sardinian plains, we
dismissed our cavallante, and
changed our mode of travelling. A
primitive diligence plies
occasionally between Ozieri and Sassari,
by the new road just constructed to join
the Strada Reale between Cagliari and
Porto Torres. Missing the opportunity
during our hunting excursion, we hired a
voiture for the day's journey. It was
comparatively a smart affair, a light calèche
with bright yellow pannels, and drawn by
a pair of quick-stepping horses; so that
we travelled in much comfort...
The road follows the route of the
ancient Roman road,
Turris
Lybissonis [Porto Torres]-
Caralis
[Cagliari]. The road was modernized under
Fascism in the 1930s and in the 1970s was
rebuilt. The road is now also part of the
Europe-wide road network with the number E25
(running from Hoek van Holland in the north
to Palermo in the south) and is a Class A
road. Because of the presence along the way
of some intersections at road level with
cross-traffic, the 131 is still considered a
"limited accress" secondary road (unlike a
true
autostrada,
with bridged cross-traffic and on-ramps);
thus, I have heard that the posted speed
limit is still 90 km per hour. I have also
read that some people drive too fast to read
the signs.
Some in the Sardinian independence movement
have proposed renaming the road
Iosto
(instead of
Carlo Felice) after a
famous anti-Roman Sardinian warrior. These
same people also proposed renaming Punta La
Marmora (the highest mountain peak on the
island, named for Alberto La Marmora,
1789-1863, an Italian scientist) after
Iosto's father, Ampiscora, who also gave the
Romans a hard time. Both father and son died
during the second Punic War. Such name
changes are not likely to happen, though.
Sardinia is unlikely to become a separate
nation and, after all, the Romans did build
the road in the first place.
