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The fact
In the old cemetery of Ploaghe (Piaghe), blessed in 1797, most of the white marble slabs are written in Logudorese Sardinian, not in Italian: names, ages, trades, and the word Pax. After the cholera of 1855 the village built another graveyard; the stones stayed where they were. The lyrics are made of the words on those slabs.
The lyrics
Logudorese of Ploaghe
Piaghe...
Pace.
Inoghe reposat.
Massaiu bene costumadu,
pacìficu, laboriosu e giustu:
gai l'ant iscritu in sa pedra,
gai l'ant lassadu a sos fizos.
Pastore de Piaghe, onestu,
industriosu, pacìficu:
no at lassadu àteru
che su nùmene e custas paràulas.
Unu nùmene, un'edade,
un'arte, una die.
Chie passat leghet in pagu:
Pace.
Sas pedras faeddant
in sa corte de sa cheja,
narant su nùmene,
s'annu e sa die.
Sas pedras faeddant,
ma no abòghinant:
Pace —
inoghe reposat.
Maria Caderina, nàschida in Bonorva,
bìdua de duos maridos,
como reposat in Piaghe
in sa pedra bianca.
Su còlera est bennidu,
sa corte no est bastada prus:
ant fatu un'àteru campusantu,
e sas pedras sunt restadas inoghe.
Isetat inoghe...
sa resurretzione...
In sa carta, s'italianu.
In sa missa, su latinu.
In sa pedra, sa limba de domo.
Pace! Piaghe!
Sas pedras faeddant!
Pace! Piaghe!
Inoghe reposat!
(refrain)
Giuanne Maria...
Maria Caderina...
Giuanna Maria, ùnica fiza...
Pace.
English translation
Piaghe…
Peace.
Here lies.
A farmer of good ways,
peaceful, hard-working and just:
that is how they wrote it in the stone,
that is how they left it to the children.
A shepherd of Piaghe, honest,
industrious, peaceful:
he left nothing else
but his name and these words.
A name, an age,
a trade, a day.
Whoever passes reads it in a moment:
Peace.
The stones speak
in the churchyard,
they tell the name,
the year and the day.
The stones speak,
but they do not shout:
Peace —
here lies.
Maria Caderina, born in Bonorva,
widow of two husbands,
now rests in Piaghe
in the white stone.
The cholera came,
the yard was no longer enough:
they made another graveyard,
and the stones stayed here.
He waits here…
for the resurrection…
On paper, Italian.
At Mass, Latin.
In the stone, the language of home.
Peace! Piaghe!
The stones speak!
Peace! Piaghe!
Here lies!
(chorus)
Giuanne Maria…
Maria Caderina…
Giuanna Maria, only daughter…
Peace.
The reviews
Lyrics written in Logudorese, Ploaghe variety, reviewed and corrected line by line by Giannella Vacca (Ploaghe) on 24 and 25 September 2026, before release. The title is written faeddant and sung faeddana at the end of a phrase: that was her call. The song was presented to the people of Ploaghe on 26 September 2026 and received without objection.
Sources
- Comune di Ploaghe, «Cimitero Monumentale» — benedizione nel 1797, lapidi in logudorese
- Monumenti Aperti 2024, «Cimitero Antico – Ploaghe» — 1797, colera del 1855 e nuovo cimitero, restauro del 1982
- Le due fonti non concordano sul numero delle lapidi: per questo il testo non ne cita nessuno. Nomi e formule sono presi dalle lapidi trascritte