Arbus (, , ) is a town and comune (municipality) in the Province of Medio Campidano in the region of Sardinia in Italy. With a population of 5,532 in an area of , Arbus is the 52nd-largest municipality in Sardinia by population and the 3rd-largest by area.
Located in the southwest coast of the island, Arbus is known for several archeological and non-operational industrial sites, such as the mines of Montevecchio,Angei, Luca, Arbus tra storia e leggenda. Usanze e vita di un popolo, Cesmet, Naples 1995 as well as for its coastline, the Costa Verde, whose main beach, Piscinas, includes one of the biggest sand dune systems in Europe.
Arbus territory also includes several hamlets, among which Ingurtosu and Montevecchio are particularly important since they still show tangible signs of the intensive mineral extraction that took place during the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, in nowadays non-operational extraction sites that are now part of the parco geominerario storico ed ambientale della Sardegna (i.e. Sardinian Environmental and Historical Geomineral Park, also known as Geological, Mining Park of Sardinia). The town is well renowned also for its black sheep, that is bred virtually only there, whose milk, and other products derived from them, are listed among the Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (P.A.T.) (Traditional Agricultural Products), and for the Arburesa kind of knife, a typical knife handcrafted in town.
Etymology Although town name's origin is still quite controversial, its etymology has been discussed and the following are some possible origins for its name: A first hypothesis suggested that its name might come from the word albus (which means "white"), which might be referred to the important presence of white granitic rocks within the town's territory. With regard to that, Pietro Vidal, in his works, indeed gives the town the name Albus and calls its inhabitants "albesi"; A second thesis proposed that its name might instead come from the word arburis with reference to the high amount of trees that would be characteristic of the town's territory at the time; Finally, according to a last supposition, its name could come from the word arabus, which might refer to the Saracen horde which is thought to have invaded, in the past, the coast part of the town's territory.
History Arbus has been inhabited by man since the ancient Neolithic. It includes a mountain district which separates Medio Campidano from the sea. There are numerous tombe dei giganti (Giant graves) in the district of Capo Pecora, and in other areas of territory.
Early settlement and establishment The actual foundation date of the town is at the current time unknown. Nonetheless, in 2009 in the Saint Luxorious' square situated in the city centre, more specifically while it was being refurbished, a multilayered archeological site, made up of remains of thermal baths and a Roman necropolis, was found, as well as a churchyard and a Spanish church, that date back at least to the 17th century.
The new settlement lies on an artificial terracing build with Imperial Roman building materials, that was placed on already-existing graves.
These new chronological elements that have been provided by the archeological researches and investigations let Arbus' settlement be added to ancient Sardinian topography. Indeed, until those findings were made, Arbus was thought to have been founded during the Middle Ages, at least according to the documentation of the time. Indeed, the town was not included in the list of the pontifical tithe payments relating to 1341 arguably because, differently from now, the town was actually made up of different separate hamlets such as Santu Domini, Santa Sofia, Bidda Zei, Bidda Erdi, Villa Babari, Funtana Atza, Cilirus in Flumentorgiu, "Villa Jaca" and other minor locations but year after year, also because of the numerous incursions by land and sea carried out by Saracens and Aragonese people, these hamlets' inhabitants eventually ended up living in a single town, which would make for the future town of Arbus.
The first actual documentary evidence of the existence of the town is found only the Middle Ages, when Arbus, according to the first volume of the Geographical, Historical, Statistical and Commercial Dictionary of the States of His Majesty King of Sardinia (in Italian, Dizionario geografico - storico - statistico -commerciale degli Stati di S. M. il Re di Sardegna), was the capital, or rather part of the curatory or department, of the Kingdom of Colostrài that, as stated by the same source, was one of the departments of the ancient Kingdom of Arborea in Sardinia. According to these sources, it is as a result wise to say that Arbus was already existing in the Middle Ages but, while the Sardinian Kingdom of Arborea has a 500-year-long history, Arbus has not found yet its place in this long time span.
Besides, the Arbus municipality is cited again in the allodiation act (concerning the cession of properties free from any feudal taxes or obligations), issued on 8 November 1504 and, subsequently, in the Documented History of Sardinian Population (i.e. Storia documentata della popolazione di Sardegna), in which Corridore reported all the Parliamentary Acts with the Statistics of municipalities with regard to the number of fires and their population in 1878.
Furthermore, another important documentary evidence regarding the existence of the town in the 16th century is the report of a pastoral visit of the bishop of the time, Monsignor Andrea Sanna, that took place from 5 to 16 April 1524, in every parish of the diocese, among which also the Saint Luxurious' parish in Arbus is cited.
The municipality managed to preserve his dependency relation with the Barony of Monreale, that belonged again to the Kingdom of Quirra, until the feuds ransom took place in 1836, when it was ransomed by the last lords, the Ostorios, marquess of Quirra, that succeeded the Centelles in 1603. When Sardinia was divided into ten provinces, Arbus was assigned to the Iglesias' province.
From the 17th century to the 1800s The town, which was mainly dedicated to agriculture, breeding and sheep farming, went through a considerably slow development, so much so that in 1688 it had barely 989 inhabitants and ten years later the population had only increased to 1,282 inhabitants. In 1728 the population went up to 2,126 inhabitants and, in 1821, it reached 3,000 residents.As stated in the parish registers: F. Tuveri, Quattro secoli di storia, 1965 (Four centuries of history, in English) In those years, also thanks to the vastness of the town's territory, an impulse was given to sheep, goat, beef, pig and horse breeding that, despite the lack in streets available for good transportation, gave life to a significant commercial trade with the close cities of Cagliari and Oristano.
Furthermore, another relevant activity at the time was represented by weaving and in particular linen, cotton, raw canvas and rough woolen fabric (called orbace) production, that were importantly sold to other towns within the Medio Campidano plain, that was carried out by virtually every family at the time: out of 670 registered houses, 600 were equipped with a loom.As stated in the book Cenni di Sardegna (Sardinia in brief, in English), Angius, 1841, citation Ass. Cult. Folk. Sant'Antonio Arbus (Arbus' Saint Anthony's Cultural and Folkloric Association, in English)
When it comes to Arbus' administration, the town, in 1839, managed to do away with the feudal dependency and, in 1848, with the law that created the modern municipalities, was assigned to the administrative division of Cagliari and eventually, in 1859, was included in the accordingly-named refounded province.
Mines' era
It is for sure wise to say that Arbus' recent history has been strongly characterised by the mine of Ingurtosu that, as tradition has it, was discovered by an Arbusian smith. Ingurtosu mine history is clearly importantly linked with Lord Thomas Allnutt Brassey, a noble English man who owned a company active in the industrial field, "Petrusola", that later on allowed for the construction, in 1900, of the washing plant in Naracauli, that would then be named after him, after having entered, in 1896, the Sardinian Mining Association. In 1914 he became the president of the mine in Ingurtosu and in the following years he funded many different buildings within the hamlet of Ingurtosu itself, such as the Church of Saint Barbara, whose construction started in 1914, that was eventually inaugurated on 21 May 1916. After his election, like all the other directors of the mine did and would do, he lived, during his term and frequent visits in Sardinia, in the Direction Palace of Ingurtosu, usually referred to by locals as "The Castle" for its peculiar characteristics. It was indeed engineered by Eng. J.G. Bornemann, German engineer and former president of the "Sociétè civile des mines d'Ingurtosu et Gennamari", who also oversaw its construction that had already ended before 1870, after Eng. Viktor Bornemann, who would become the director of the mine between 1884 and 1894, had taken over as responsible engineer for the project. Having been mainly engineered by Germans, the building has been artistically influenced by Northern European architectural traditions and, as a result, its peculiar characteristics strongly resemble the ones of Wartburg Castle in Germany, that had for sure inspired Eng. Bornemann who was indeed born in Eisenach, where the above-mentioned castle is found.
Workmen's precarious working and health condition Due to the really hazardous conditions in which miners had to work, especially between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and the numerous diseases (e.g. malaria) that spread across the area, workmen's working conditions were particularly precarious and the directorate of the mine itself was already aware of the serious health hazards workers were faced with every day, so much so that Lord Allnutt Brassey, during his term, placed much emphasis on finding solutions at least for those issues and health hazards that could be avoided. As an example, between 1889 and 1918, the mine purchased, at a low price from the Kingdom of Italy, many doses of quinine (a medicine that was thought to be beneficial and useful against malaria) that were subsequently distributed to workpeople. Furthermore, other measures were taken such as providing workers' housing with fresh and salubrious water to prevent other diseases and, in order to further prevent malaria from spreading among workmen, workers' house windows were protected with wire gauze against mosquitoes. In spite of these efforts, the mine directorate soon realized that the main threat was not malaria yet lung diseases to which miners seemed to be particularly subject. As a result, in order to partly mitigate such lung diseases, workers' dwellings were purposely built far from mine pitheads in more elevated positions on the surrounding hills, so that workers would have to walk to reach their houses after their turns over a few hundred yards so that they could "breathe a little fresh air before they reached home". Nonetheless, for the purpose of curing the above-mentioned health conditions, the mine provided an hospital, as well as a doctor and a midwife.
In spite of the precarious working conditions miners underwent, as soon as they got to know that Lord Brassey had died in London hit by a carriage on 12 November 1919, they wrote a letter to express their deepest condolences, "in their own English", to Lady Brassey, in which they said:"Deeply sorry for the unexpected and tragical death of our Master well loved Lord Brassey, we beg your Highness to agree our hearty condolences. He was the best Man in our world and we shall always remember him with deep sadness"
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