No Internet. No email. No cellular phone coverage. For the inhabitants of the small village of Nughedu Santa Vittoria in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, the only way to communicate is through land lines.
To protest this “digital divide”, the mayor, Francesco Mura, has taken to the streets; more precisely, to the main square, right in front of the church of San Giacomo, where he lit up a fire to send smoke signals, one of the oldest forms of long-distance communication.
He did it not only to show the current underdevelopment of his town, but also to symbolically have his protest get far (to Rome, perhaps?) because, he says, the lack of communication technology prevents Nughedu from developing economically: “What businessman would want to invest in a place that has no Internet access?”
