Sardinia as real as it can be. Su Gologone experience hotel in blue zone.

Sardinia as real as it can be. Su Gologone. Return. Few years back, this place was a love from the first glance, and the place for many happy returns. It is called Su Gologone Experience Hotel, and it is truly an experience. To enjoy, adore, absorb, photograph, and to learn from.

I was told that word “gologone” comes from the bubbling sound produced by spring which flows from a gorge at the foot of Monte Uddè near the town of Oliena. And yes, this place is truly bubbling with life and positive energy, all happily anchored to its origins.

… If you are pedantic perfectionist type of luxury traveller, that may be not your place to stay, sorry about that. Su Gologone is as spontaneous, artistic, bohemian, effervescent as its owner Giovanna Palimodde, talented artist and passionate hotelier in second generation.

Su Gologone is Giovanna’s kingdom which lives and operates in accordance with her very own rules, and the rules of Giovanna are quite flamboyant and…. unruly. Traditions are freely mixed with modernity, and aesthetics is a bold stroke of gifted paint-brush. Expect lots of colour and joy, and if it is your kind of things, you will love it through and through.

The employees call Giovanna “37 hours per day”, and it is said with admiration and devotion. I can easily understand why, and when I visit, I’m happy to be taken by this whirlwind called Giovanna for the experience of lifetime, whatever it will be.

This time the first surprise was my room. Well, you can’t really call it just “room”, no way. Villa Art Suite Studio, that’s how it called. In parallel reality of Su Gologone, it is a former Giovanna’s art studio transformed to the most unusual (yet comfortable and luxurious) accommodation unit.

Not that Giovanna left me tons of time to enjoy my beautiful indoor and outdoor property, but there was quite a bit to adore and admire. Studio where I can imagine myself painting (I hold master degree in architecture, so I’m not totally ignorant of how to use the brush). Swimming pool which looks like a lake, dominated by sheep-shaped stone. Dreamy canopy daybed to cherish the picturesque view. Rooftop terrace where you climb by full of character forged staircase. Covered terrace with plenty of comfy sofas and jacuzzi…

I would need a week to give proper use to all these amenities, and I only had two days filled with experience and adventure. I need to come back ones again!

Su Gologone was born as a restaurant, the first proper restaurant in this part of Sardinia, an ambitious project of Giovanna’s parents. The project became such a success, that hotel was built around it to accommodate food lovers coming here for Sardinian gourmet delights. Food is still core part of experience here, true to the place, down to the earth, zero km to source.

When I arrived, Giovanna asked me if I want to eat something for lunch. Well, not exactly. She asked WHAT and where I would like to eat, to be precise. “If” is not the word used at Su Gologone when it comes to food. I said I’m not really hungry (wrong answer), and I would love to have small appetizer in my room while I’m working. Impulsively, I mentioned slice of that fabulous roasted sucking pig I remembered from my previous visit.

10 minutes after, two charming local ladies arrived with my “small appetizer”: plate of pane sardo (Sardinian bread), sheep cheese, plate of grilled vegetables, pretty much half of roasted sucking pig, plenty of fruit and jar of Cannonau wine. This is a light lunch Su Gologone way, be warned. And yes, it is that delicious that can’t be refused.

Row of sucking pigs roasting on spits over fairplace may look like nightmare of vegetarian, but this is traditional dish of Sardinian blue zone, and the way they roast sicking pig at Su Gologone is an art. I’ve been eating at numerous Michelin starred restaurants during my luxury travel advisors carrier, also I’m trying to eat healthy when I can…. but sucking pig Su Gologone style is irresistible, and that is the case when I’m happy I’m not vegetarian, so I don’t miss this special gourmet experience.

Well, accept it or not, red meat is a part of blue zone diet. The ration of Sardinian blue zone population (population which has significantly higher percentage of centenarians than average in the world) is surprisingly based on meat, and not on seafood. Funny, isn’t it?

Please don’t forget that Su Gologone is an Experience hotel. And this is all about experience of the land it belongs to. Experience can be rough but truly something to remember and cherish.

As a part of my Su Gologone experience, I was offered to visit local shepherd for lunch (yes, food again!), and I can say it has nothing to do with mass tourism attraction. We started from Su Gologone by shabby jeep, with Gianni, cousin of Giovanna, being our driver and guide (amazing in both!).

If I would say that road was rough… well, believe me, I’ve been to few rough mountain roads in rural Morocco, Caucasus, etc…. But those were highways in comparison with steep goat’s trail our jeep was climbing on the way to Tonino’s refuge. Proactively, I took my Gravol pill, and I was singing “We are all in the yellow submarine” while taking video of the impossible curves and slopes, and I was very lucky with my co-travellers, middle-age American couple, who were happy to co-sing and to enjoy the moment.

We’ve got to the place safely, and that was a special place to arrive indeed. Some years back it was only reachable by donkey, now retired, and modern facilities (even very basic) little by little made their way to the remote refuge of Tonino which was used by family in generations quite recently.

It is still extremely rustic, but there is electricity which allows fridge and even little TV set, but if you think of the most authentic way of living, that probably is.

It is a peaceful place. Tonino is far from being talkative, also he prefers local dialect to Italian, but his food offering was tasty even simple: grilled sausages, local bread, ricotta cheese, sucking pig on a spit, honey, olive oil… All local and of great quality.

I wish Tonino was more chatty (my Italian is good enough for little conversation), but his reticence was a part of the game, and there was a retired donkey very keen for conversation, and couple of very animated cats… So Tonino is not alone in his refuge. Not at all.

When I returned back to Su Gologone (quite happy to rest and to make some work done in my spectacular Artistic Suite), I was told that “no no no, you need to see the sunset first”. I had 15 minutes to change from shorts to jeans and to put my jacket on, and I was in Gianni’s shabby jeep ones again for more challenge. No doubts, it was one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen, and the most challenging road I was ever driven (thanks God the driver was the best ever).

When I was back to Su Gologone, the dinner time was about. This time we were dining at Nido del Pane – “Bread Nest” where local women bake diverse dough-based specialities in traditional hearth. I was promised the very light dinner, but new dishes kept arriving on our table: pizzas, pies, patties of all possible sorts and shapes. Our cooks, old lady and young man, were working non-stop: knitting dough, cutting and mixing stuffings, baking, and knitting again. Well, no sucking pig this time, just pies, cheeses and vegetables. So it can be called light, no?

If you are thinking of loosing weight, you better leave these thoughts till your return home. La cucina sarda, traditional Sardinian cuisine, is not exactly light. But what I can promise, you eat healthy here. And delicious. Truly delicious. Undeniably delicious. Count your calories when you are out of here, because eating food which sourced zero km away is a treat as not so many Michelin starred restaurants can offer. Relax, eat, and enjoy.

This is Su Gologone. Sardinia as real as it can be. Experience hotel in that exact “middle of nowhere” where people live longer and enjoy their living. Su Gologone is not the place for everyone. But if you are the one, you will love it through and through. As I do.