There are places where the sea becomes an enemy, hiding in its unfathomable heart the shadow of mysterious and elusive creatures. The lighthouse of Calasetta, a charming village at the tip of Sant’Antioco island, off Sardinia’s southwest coast, is one of them.
Built in 1935 on one of the three small rocky outcrops that jut out a short distance from the mainland, it is considered one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the Mediterranean. Nicknamed ‘Mangiabarche’ (‘Boat Eater’), it has become a symbol of the curse that hangs over these seemingly calm waters. Many ships and fishing boats have sunk in this ‘Triangle of Death’ during violent southwesterly gales, and although the more skeptical believe that its name derives from the shoals in which even the largest ships were fatally stranded, it is said that it is not just the raging waves that overwhelm sailors, but something much worse.
Issue 12
SEA GATE
Viviana De Cecco is an Italian writer and translator. Her works can be found in Tint Journal Poets’ Choice, yovoice.org, ParABnormal Magazine, Pressfuls Digipress, Grim&Gilded, and The Polyglot Magazine. She writes short stories and photo essay of mysterious places for La Soglia Oscura.