The new community official birthday was on 27th July 1966, with the constitution of the "Societą Cooperativa Poggio dei Pini a r.l.", in the Excelsior Hotel lounge in Cagliari. The creator of the name "Poggio dei Pini" was lawyer Elia Marracini. History records the names of the "promoter members" as: Alberto Marracini, Ettore Lai (first president), Alfredo Sotgia, Giorgio Mundula, Pierluigi Monni, Silvio Alvito, Giampiero Atzori, Vittorio Mungianu, Giovanni Manca, Salvatore Congia, Giovanni Mandas, Salvatore D'Errico. 

But the Poggio history had a prelude that goes back to the first months of 1966 and that saw the twelve promoters searching for a locality with particular environmental requirements to build a residential centre. After the area was choosen the next step was the search for other members. The "word of mouth" method worked well and soon a considerable number of followers gave their agreement for the initiative. A greater and more difficult act of courage followed: to auction the area choosen for the establishment of the Centre. It was the farm property of Donna Maria Saggiante's heirs, 284 hectares in the Capoterra countryside. The Co-operative head office was settled in Cagliari, Via Alghero, 31.
After that the Society was set up and the administrative body was elected on October 1966. The task of studying the town plan of the area was entrusted to the member engineer Pierluigi Monni. The plan, that consisted at that time only of the Pauli Ara and Sa Birdiera districts, was presented in the last months of 1967. From the opening report we quote a significant passage: "Great care was taken to alter that evocative environment as little as possible .... both zones have a large common park formed by the cluster of pinewoods that cover the Pauli Ara and Sa Birdiera heights; moreover a capillary network of green is scattered among the reseidences, proving to be very useful both as fittings and for functional reasons. The two zones are joined by the general services complex, between the lakes and through the green trial along the riverbed, and it is this services and equipment complex which has the instrumental and psychological function of connecting the two parts of the complex, forming a real Social Centre divided into several funcions: commercial, business and recreation."
In 1967 the "Sports Committee" was instituted. In the same year work on the Centre started. In 1968 an area 6 hectares wide facing the sea near Villa d'Orri was bought, and about 300 hectares of land, belonged to the Belgian company "S.p.A. Santa Barbara" were acquired. Within 1968 and 1971 the various regulations were approved, among them the Building Regulations and the Internal Regulations. On 13th April, 1970 the first stone was laid in the buiding site of the member Angioni. So the construction of the first houses in Poggio began at the same time as the urbanisation works.
An historic date for Poggio is 28th May 1972, when the aqueduct was inaugurated. On 27th October of the same year the Primary School was opened, with a multi-class attended by eight pupils. A place of importance in the Poggio history is occupied by the member Mario Gabba: he was the first to settle in the Residential Centre, on 10th January, 1973. By the end of 1973 the residing families were already numbered 14.
In 1974, in order to reduce the discomfort of the access to Poggio, the Co-operative decided to enlarge and asphalt at its expense the secondary road that connects the village to the main road. The Centre grew and even the services did too: in 1975/76 the nursery school, the "social circle" and the chapel started to operate, accommodated in temporary rooms of the old estate. During those years construction began on the pool and covered gymnasium.
1978 was a year full of news. On 1st April the Dedoni firm inaugurated the public transport service to between Cagliari and Poggio. Previously the same service for members was made using the little coach of the Sports Group. The Poggio chapel became the parish church. The archbishop of Cagliari, in fact, institutes the "Blessed Virgin mother of the Church" parish. The new parish, apart from Poggio, consisted of Maddalena, Frutti d'Oro and Su Loi. Later on Poggio dei Pini and Residenza del Poggio were to be constituted as their own parish, dedicated to the "Blessed Virgin of Lourdes".
At Poggio dei Pini years of frenetic activity followed. The Residential Centre population kept growing and new works and services began. In 1980 the drinking water supply was established and work began on building the new nursery school. In 1981 the secondary school was inaugurated. In the years 1981/82 work started on the Club House and the Commercial Centre. In the following years the internal streets were asphalted and the street lights were installed. Very recent, on March 1997, there was the inauguration of the new church entitled to the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes.

Translated by Giorgio Plazzotta and Jenny Setchell

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