With a geological formation dated from Palaeozoic with until 500 milions of years of antiquity, it is the forty-eighth of the world, the eighth of Europe and the second one of Mediterranean by size. This island is found in the occidental Mediterranean sea's middle, making up one of the twenty regions of the Italian Republic.
The prehistoric civilisation who lived in the Sardinia island was the Nuragic culture. They left in the island megalithic structures constituted by excavated tombs in the rocks named "Domus de Janas". The popular tradition used to call them as "House of the Fairies" or of the "Witches" and the first one’s date back to 3400-2700 BC.

Since then, many civilisations and peoples passed for this land. The next ones were the Phoenicians, who called it “ŠRDN" or Shardan/Sherden. Successively, the Carthaginians came, the Romans conquered it on the 238 BC, in the V century the Vandals sacked and took the island, afterwards also the Goths and the Byzantines in the 10th century. It was the aim of the Moors, Berbers and Saracens incursions, too. To finals of 13th century Sardinia passed to be a part of the Crown of Aragon in the last years of James II, which control was prolonged until the 18th century and standing out its presence in Alghero. In 1713 the land was ceded to Austria, but in 1718 it went to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and through this same house at last Sardinia was incorporated at the Kingdom of Italy in the year 1861.

Our family comes from the city of Alghero, Alguer in catalan. The town was founded in 1102 by the Doria family. Due to in the Middle Ages it was under the influence of the Crown of Aragon and afterwards the Kingdom of Spain kept it until 1720, Sardinia was repopulated by Catalans, that’s why we the Alghereses called our town “Balçaruneta” (Barceloneta). Here predominates a dialect named Algherese, that descends directly from the ancient catalan, as well as other traditions with catalan origin like “El Cant de la Sibil•la” (The Song of the Sybil), in Christmas Eve.
Already in the 14th century the Aragoneses noticed of the island’s rich flora and sea fauna, in which the coral stands out. In this way, Alghero became a reference place for the capture and the goldsmith of this material. The handmade products are an important part of the Sardinians life, with a long artisan tradition, in some cases it became the sustenance of the local economy. That’s why the carving tradition has remained from parents to children between ancient tools and tables, with the same handcrafted process that people used in the past.

At first, they utilized very rudimentary methods for its fishing which damaged the seafloors and decimated considerablement the quantity of coral that was founded in the Sardinian shore. Today the fishing is selective, only can do this experts divers by hand, there is a limit of size and it is regulated to allow the ecosystem's sustainable exploitation. We are the second generation of a family who has lived and lives of this business, we feel a lot of respect for the nature. Make aware to the customer is the key because, in short, the regulation is the only way to conserve our work.
El Coral is the result of the history. My name is Simona Marras and from the beautiful city of Alghero I have grown in one of this local artisans company, that transforms the best quality's coral carefully fished, into a precious jewels. Together with my father Franco Marras, artisan since 1970, I have learned all the coral's secrets.