The Ichnusa Rowing Society, in the Calata dei Trinitari, is the oldest water sports society in Sardinia. An article in L’Avvenire di Sardegna, dated August 1, 1891, informs of the establishment of a new rowing society in Cagliari, attended by members of the city’s middle class. The members of the “Sardinian Rowing Society” were granted a space near the newly established Levante Pier, where the first shed intended for boat storage was built.
In the last years of the nineteenth century, during the presidency of Stanislao Scano (Dionigi’s brother), a period of sporting, social and socially engaged activity began, which caused the society to be assigned the role of the most popular civic association in Belle Époque Cagliari. In 1899, the board passed a resolution to join the Royal Italian Rowing Club, making Ichnusa the first island sports club to affiliate with a national sports federation. In the same year, on the occasion of King Umberto I and Queen Margaret’s visit to Cagliari, the current social flag was commissioned from the nuns of the Carlo Felice kindergarten. A protagonist of Cagliari life even before and after the two world wars, the historic headquarters was razed to the ground by Allied bombing in 1943.
After a temporary rebuilding of the shed at the Darsena, Ichnusa was officially reborn in 1967 at its current location in Su Siccu. The society is still animated by hundreds of members of all ages united by a passion for the sea and water sports in all its forms – canoeing, rowing, sailing, sport fishing.