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The fact
In 1943, according to the only source found so far, 500 tonnes of copper ore left the Li Menduli mine at Bortigiadas (Bultiggjata) and sank with the ship carrying them. The account still needs to be cross-checked: if you know the ship's name or an archive record, write to me. The lyrics also tell of another passage: from Logudorese to Gallurese, from one generation to the next.
The lyrics
Gallurese
Bultiggjata...
Sott’a la petra, lu ramu.
Dentru a la ghjenti, la 'oci.
Mille novicentu carantatrè...
Da li Menduli di Bultiggjata
falava lu ramu cu li mani,
petra spaccata, sudori nieddu,
anni di trabaddu in li minieri.
Cincucentu tunnillati,
carricati pà partì,
la muntagna li vidìa falà,
ma no li vidìa più vultà.
Lu ramu partìa versu lu mari,
la 'oci cambiava in ogni casa.
Nimu vidìa lu cambiamentu:
una paraula dopu l’altra.
Lu ramu sottu mari,
la 'oci ancora in terra.
Una lingua si trasforma,
ma la mimoria no si perdi.
Bultiggjata, Bultiggjata,
tra la petra e lu ventu.
Cambia lu sonu di li 'oci,
ma lu cori resta dentru.
Li 'ecchji faiddavani loguduresu,
li fiddoli rispundiani altrimenti.
Una paraula cambiava sonu,
una casa cambiava lingua.
No in un ghjornu, no in una notti,
ma pianu, da babbu a fiddolu.
La 'oci antiga no era morta,
stava nascosta in li nomi.
In li nomi...
in li petri...
in la terra...
Li tunnillati partini.
Dui linghi fermani.
Una sottu a l’altra.
Comu lu ramu sottu mari.
Bultiggjata!
Cambia la 'oci, no la mimoria!
Bultiggjata!
Cambia la lingua, resta la storia!
Lu ramu sottu mari!
La mimoria dentru a noi!
Lu ramu sottu mari!
Bultiggjata no si perdi!
Si lu mari teni lu ramu,
la terra teni li passi.
Si lu tempu cambia la lingua,
la petra teni li nomi.
No semu una 'oci sola.
Semu li 'oci vinuti prima.
Loguduresu sottu la peddi,
gadduresu supra la lingua.
Lu ramu sottu mari,
la 'oci ancora in terra.
Una lingua si trasforma,
ma la mimoria no si perdi.
Bultiggjata, Bultiggjata,
tra la petra e lu ventu.
Cambia lu sonu di li 'oci,
ma lu cori resta dentru.
Cincucentu tunnillati...
lu ramu sottu mari.
Dui linghi...
una sola terra.
Bultiggjata...
English translation
Bultiggjata…
Beneath the stone, the copper.
In the heart of the people, the voice.
Nineteen forty-three…
From Li Menduli in Bultiggjata
the copper came down by hand,
split stone, black sweat,
years of work in the mines.
Five hundred tonnes,
loaded to leave,
the mountain watched them go down,
but never saw them come back.
The copper was leaving for the sea,
the voice was changing in every house.
No one saw the change:
one word after another.
The copper beneath the sea,
the voice still on the land.
A language transforms,
but memory is not lost.
Bultiggjata, Bultiggjata,
between the stone and the wind.
The sound of the voices changes,
but the heart stays within.
The elders spoke Logudorese,
the children answered otherwise.
A word changed its sound,
a house changed its language.
Not in a day, not in a night,
but slowly, from father to son.
The old voice was not dead,
it stayed hidden in the names.
In the names…
in the stones…
in the land…
The tonnes are leaving.
Two languages remain.
One beneath the other.
Like the copper beneath the sea.
Bultiggjata!
The voice changes, not the memory!
Bultiggjata!
The language changes, the story remains!
The copper beneath the sea!
The memory is within us!
The copper beneath the sea!
Bultiggjata is not lost!
If the sea keeps the copper,
the land keeps the footsteps.
If time changes the language,
the stone keeps the names.
We are not a single voice.
We are the voices that came before us.
Logudorese beneath the skin,
Gallurese on the tongue.
(chorus)
Five hundred tonnes…
the copper beneath the sea.
Two languages…
one single land.
Bultiggjata…
The reviews
Lyrics written in Gallurese, reviewed and approved by Martine de Lumbaldu on 16 September 2026, before release. The spelling of the village's name, Bultiggjata (or Bultigghjata), is still to be confirmed with a speaker from Bortigiadas.