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islands are full of charm and expectations. The archipelago
of Lofoten stretches into the Norwegian Sea from north-east
to south-west, between the latitudes 67°and 68° north
and is made of hundreds of islands, islets and rocks
with a total surface of 1227 km2 and a population
of 24.887.
The main islands are: Austvagøy , Gimsøy
, Varøy and Røst. The Gulf Stream gives
Lofoten a mild, dry climate, with winters by no means
rigorous and cool summers, unlike countries which
are situated at the same latitude (Alaska, Greenland).
The fish manufacturing, especcially cod, soon becomes
a primary resource for the Lofoten trade with great
exportation mainly to Italy ( the country which imports
over 80% of cod from the Lofoten), Spain and Portugal.
Thanks to the Gulf Stream the temperature of water
in the sea surrounding the Lofoten Islands never drops
below 5° C, thus favouring the ideal conditions for
the reproduction of cods. Cod, once gutted, cleaned
and split is dried up in the open air, hung on special
Fiskehjell (wooden lattice or arbour-like structures,
and eventually turns into (stockfish), otherwise once
cleaned it may be salted eventually turning into Klippfisk
( baccala' ). At the end of December, 1431, the Venitian
Pietro Querini was shipwrecked with his crew on Sandøy,
a deserted islet near Røst.
The expedition was rescued at the beginning of 1432;
these first tourists to the Lofoten Islands brought
back home a lot of stockfish, thus marking the beginning
of what was to become a traditional dish in Italian
cookery.
The
isle of RØST
An over ten-year long friendship binds Sandrigo to
the isle of Røst in the Lofoten Islands (Røst is an
islet with seven hundred inhabitants devoted to fishing
and cod processing). Sandrigo has named a little square
after Røst and the Norwegians have given an islet
to the Community of Sandrigo as a present: SANDRIGOØYA,
which means Isle of Sandrigo. Every year a delegation
from the Norwegian island takes participates in the
Baccalà festival and every two years some representatives
of Sandrigo return the visit. A bond of acquaintance
and friendships has therefore been established and,
year after year, such affiliation has become deeper
and deeper even though the two places are three thousand
kilometres away from each other ( the isle of Røst
is situated more than hundred kilometres from the
Arctic Circle). Why not quoting some "travel records"
- written by a person from Sandrigo who joined in
the delegation from Sandrigo in 1998 - in order to
better describe the beauty of Røst and its surroundings?
. . . . " we flow from Bologna to Copenaghen; from
the Danish capital we take a plane to Norway, to Trondheim;
there we change once again and arrive in Bødo that
is the last town on the mainland, where we spend the
night. Early in the morning we board a propeller twin-engined
plane ( the airport of Røst is very small and bigger
planes cannot land) and half an hour later we reach
our destination. The weather is gloomy and drizzly
. . . . we get on a couple of cars and move to the
only inn, which is situated on a little promontory
at the very end of the island. . . . . . .the weather
had got better and we were able to enjoy the enchanting
beauty of that place. The island is almost flat: there
aren't any trees; it is a deep-green meadow dotted
by colourful little wooden houses that are scattered
on an area of about two kilometres. There isn't a
real centre and there isn't any square either. The
tiny, bare church is made from wood, it is pretty
in its simplicity. The houses are lovely, friendly
and tidy; they have a big terrace, big windows without
outer balconies; they are screened by finely manufactured
curtains; inside, on the windowsill, there is a lamp
which is always on: a token of welcome. The gardens
are not very big, they have well-kept bushes and plenty
of flowers. The place resembles a long ago fairy-tale
village. . . . . there are about seven hundred inhabitants,
nearly all being devoted either to cod fishing and
processing or to salmon sea-breeding. Ten families
make a living by sheep-farming and about eighty people
are employed in the services sector. Everybody speaks
two languages, English and German, in addition to
their mother tongue. The landscape is of a rare beauty,
beyond description. There are no pictures or films
which might convey the idea of the uniqueness of such
places even to a limited extent. One needs to have
a 360° vision, to breathe the air, to taste the food,
to witness the continual change in the weather ( which
varies at least ten times a day) second by second,
to deal with the people, observe their own behaviour.
The sight sweeps endlessly above a clear deep sea
which is dotted by an endless number of islands (there
are more than three hundred), from the little rock
to the big mountain which solemnly comes out of the
water and where sheep graze free. . . . . at eleven
we get on board and go on a boating trip. The sun
is shining and the temperature is mild. We see the
isle of seagulls, all rounded and pot-bellied, which
means that there is plenty of food. Then we meet the
island of cormorants, black long-necked tapering-bodied
birds skimming over the water swift and light. There
are red-beaked birds (puffins) nesting on the rocks
in another island and then, as if by magic, an eagle
circling up above, slow and dignified. We see four
of them: one stands still, mighty, on a rock. We are
in the kingdom of birds. A little farther we catch
sight of a swimming seal; three of them are basking
in the sun among rocks. We are not lucky enough to
see whales, but our curiosity and desire to see things
have been already abundantly satisfied. We get on
the farthest island: the lighthouse island. The place
is charming, it resembles a post-card. On the islet,
in addition to the lighthouse, there are five tiny
wooden cottages, well preserved, which not long ago
used to host the guardians' families. Being the lighthouse
automatic, the islet is presently deserted. We are
told, however, that some families are going to come
back to stay there at least during the summer months.
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LOFOTEN TOURIST