Questions about the Sardinian Sword, Leppa de chintu

[Pitt1999]

This is a sword type that has caught my attention recently, it reminds me in it's appearance of a short bedouin sabre or one of those berber sabres. The two in this image are sadly not mine, I've had this picture on my phone for a while and forgot where I got it from. I imagine that if someone on the forum had one that they would be very eager to show it. Two questions come to my mind when I think of this sword. One, why do they seem so rare, it seems like something that you would atleast see labeled as something else like an old horn hilted machete. From what little information I know about them they seem to have been an everyday sort of sword for the people of Sardinia. My second question is about it's uses and purpose. Would this sword have been a pure fighting weapon or more of a multipurpose utilitarian long knife/shortsword. The average length of these seem to be conducive to a utility/fighting application like a machete or bolo knife. Thanks for your thoughts and comments.