If you are looking for a European tourist destination, consider the island of Sardinia, a region of southern Italy. Depending on your interests, this beautiful area can be an ideal vacation spot. You can get classic Italian food, and wash it down with fine local wine. Some parts of Sardinia remain undiscovered by tourists, while other sites are favorites of Italian and international jet setters and are priced accordingly. This article presents central Sardinia. Companion articles present northern Sardinia and southern Sardinia. Before we give you our itinerary you must realize that central Sardinia is hardly flatland. Sometimes to get from point A to point B you must pass by point C; the actual distance traveled may be much further than your initial estimate. Enjoy the trip, and drive carefully (or even better let the pros drive you.)
We'll start our tour of central Sardinia at the interior city of Su Nuraxi. Then we head to the city of Giari di Gesturi to its north. We next go southwest to the main road and then north to Oristano near the coast. Then we proceed north and west to the coastal city of Tharros (can you believe an Italian city whose name does not end in a vowel?). From Tharros we go to nearby San Salvatore, and then travel northeast to Nuoro and finally south to Fonni.
Su Nuraxi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies near the village of Barumini. It is the finest and most complete example of a nearly four thousand year old stone defensive structure called nuraghe found only in Sardinia. Nuraghe are typically shaped like a beehive, built with huge square blocks of stone, but with no foundations or cement. Yet they stand and have stood for millennia. Their name comes from the Sardinian word nurra that means both mound and cavity. They are mounds containing a cavity transformed into one or more rooms and perhaps a courtyard. Each structure may be over sixty feet (twenty meters) high. Some complexes include enough towers to englobe and protect a small village.
Sardinia is home to more than 8,000 nuraghe, all that remains of the original 30,000 plus. Few nuraghe have been studied scientifically and we are far from understanding their full meaning. But for an unforgettable experience go to Su Nuraxi and explore the nuraghe and the ruins of the surrounding Bronze-Age village.
Giari di Gesturi is a 28 square mile (45 square kilometer) basalt plateau. It's home to dwarf wild horses and wild
sheep Beach Resort with beautiful curved horns that have turned them into an endangered species. See these magnificent animals while there is still time.
Oristano, population thirty thousand, is the biggest town in these parts. It includes several churches worth visiting. Little remains of the original Twelfth Cathedral of Saint Mary; most of what you see comes from either the Seventeenth Century restoration or the Nineteenth Century renovation. You should also visit the French-Gothic Fifteenth Century Franciscan Church of Santa Chiara, the recently restored Fourteenth Century Gothic Church of St. Clare, and the Eighteenth Century Baroque-Piedmont Church of Carmine.
Oristano houses the Antiquarium Arborense Museum, with its important Nuraghic and Roman collection from the old cities of Tharros and Cornus. The city is not far from the Torre Grande (Large Tower)
Clearwater beach and resort area named for Sardinia's tallest tower, which is now a lighthouse.
Tharros was first inhabited by the Proto-Sardinians, then by the Phoenicians before the Romans got there. Its setting Capo San Marco (Cape St. Mark) is beautiful, lying between the sea to the west and the Gulf of Oristano to the east. Tharros was first excavated during the Nineteenth Century. A lot of its artifacts were exported to the British Museum of London and the Borely Museum in Marseille. You can see some artifacts in the Archaeological Museum in Sardinia's capital Cagliari and others in the mainland town of Cabras about six miles (ten kilometers) east. The site itself contains some ancient Roman columns, baths, and mosaics.
You're not far from the little town of San Salvatore, the location for filming many spaghetti westerns in decades gone by. The first Saturday of September it hosts the Festa di San Salvatore (Festival of San Salvatore) in which hundreds of barefoot runners, each carrying an image of the Saviour, run five miles (eight kilometers) to commemorate saving the Cabras Church of Santa Maria Assunta's statue of San Salvatore from Saracen raids. This church was built on an ancient Nuragic underground temple.
Nuoro, population about thirty-five thousand, overlooks the mountains. In the eyes of many the real Sardinia is found here, and not in the coastal resorts. Natives of this remote area feel a special pride that neither the Romans, nor Carthage, nor any other foreigner has ever conquered them. Traditions are very much part of the local daily life. You can see the traditional clothing during the numerous festivals and to some extent day to day in the villages.
