In Valledoria, the holy Patriarch blessed the land,
the nascent Christian community, social harmony.
And his protection remains

by Don Francesco Mocci

Anyone arriving in Valledoria, in the province of Sassari, on the coast from Castelsardo to Santa Teresa di Gallura, immediately notices a tall smokestack that stands near the mouth of the Coghinas river and seems to challenge the mass of ruins that surrounds it.

Those born here feel it as familiar as the church tower, but those who are not locals certainly wonder what this chimney is doing in a famous seaside tourist centre. Continuing on the main road of Valledoria, towards Santa Teresa, there are the remains of an Art Nouveau villa, Villa Stangoni, in the midst of expanses of fields and artichoke fields, with an unpaved road that leads to a small country church, with a simple and well-built style. estate.

To find out more about the church and the villa you need to refer to Caterina M. Martinazzi's book, The Stangoni brothers. An adventure agrindustrial-culture in twentieth-century Sardinia (Taphros Editrice, 2009), which contains historical information relating to Valledoria and the Stangoni Brothers company. The birth and development of the town of Valledoria, formerly called Codaruina, is closely linked to the life of this company and the owner family.

 It was started by Pier Felice Stangoni, born in Aggius in 1863 and graduated in Venice in economic and social sciences. In 1885 he married Domenica Lepori, from whom two children were born, Arnaldo and Alberto Mario, but on 15 August 1904 at just 41 years of age Pier Felice was murdered. The two boys had been completely orphaned because her mother, expecting a third child, had died of rubella shortly before her husband.

It was his maternal grandfather Paolo Lepori who wanted the construction of a church dedicated to Saint Joseph, built in 1914 next to the family business, in the heart of the countryside. He had it built on the site of the killing of his son-in-law Pier Felice, dedicating it to Saint Joseph, so that his two nephews would have a father and protector. The peace reached between the enemy families in the lower Coghinas valley is also linked to the church, in the hope that this peace, entrusted to the foster father of Jesus, would be lasting. The bell of the church is much earlier, cast in 1661; portrays the Flight into Egypt, with a clear reference to the life of injustice lived by the Stangoni family after the brutal crime, but now placed under the gaze of Saint Joseph.

Grandfather Paolo stipulated peace with his enemies with a solemn act in 1921. In the presence of the bishop of Tempio-Ampurias, Giovanni Maria Sanna, the two enemies «kiss the Crucifix; one throws themselves into the arms of the other, giving each other that kiss of peace that they gave to Christ and that they received from Christ. They are overcome by peace, their eyes drip with tears, love enters their changed and open hearts", as Don Piero Baltolu, who celebrated the rite of peace in the town of Aggius, writes.

Paolo Lepori had created a large agricultural company, strengthened by the skills of his son-in-law Pier Felice Stangoni in dealing with the population and politicians. The land was valorised, improving crops and advancing livestock breeding. Pier Felice Stangoni's dream of repopulating Sardinia, reclaiming and irrigating the land, had found the blessing of Saint Joseph.

In 1920 the town had 200 inhabitants and the agricultural company grew in the shadow of the church of San Giuseppe; later a tobacco factory was also started. The company will reach its peak in 1928 and in 1931 Valledoria had 1300 inhabitants; in the 1946s the Consortium for the reclamation of the lower Coghinas valley was also born; finally in XNUMX the canning industry was started. 

The church of San Giuseppe became a religious point of reference for the company's workers and residents. Young people celebrated their weddings here, children received their first communion and confirmation; The first baptism under the protection of Saint Joseph dates back to 1914, who from then on became the father of this new community. The popular missions started from the church of San Giuseppe, which involved all the inhabitants and which many elderly people still remember. Some of these missions were led by Father Giovanni Battista Manzella (1855-1937), a Lombard priest who moved to Sardinia in 1900, who was a great apostle and tireless preacher in these lands. A witness told of when Father Manzella visited a sick woman who had been silent for twenty years, and on that occasion he started speaking again. They were strong religious experiences, which under the protection of Saint Joseph gave hope to the simple life of the town.

But around the Seventies came the decline of the Stangoni company. Despite this, many families stop in Valledoria, which in 1960 became an independent municipality. In 1974 a new parish church was built, dedicated to Christ the King, for the growing population of the developing country, but Saint Joseph remains in the memory as the "father" of Valledoria, linked to the roots of this territory, which today has become a summer tourist center on the Gulf of Asinara.

Since 1989 Gianni Migliori has been the custodian of the church of San Giuseppe, which remains the property of the Stangoni heirs. Passionate lover of local history, he remembers the most important events and acts as a guide for tourists, students and lovers of tradition, to discover this little treasure chest of paradise. He personally renovated the facade of the church in the early XNUMXs, as well as numerous internal works, to express his devotion to Saint Joseph. Today the cult of Saint Joseph is celebrated especially during the month of March, when the community moves to the small country church to celebrate the holy Patriarch by remembering their origins. Inside, the large statue of Saint Joseph welcomes the prayers of the faithful who turn to him in search of peace and protection.