Tourist Attractions & Monuments Sardinia

Carloforte Tonnare, located at the very northern tip of the island, is a collection of white brick and wood buildings painted blue, a maritime style combined with the antique patina of the materials. Here, for hundreds of years, stories have been woven of life, fishing, passion, nature and, above all, tuna. The old tonnara 's facilities can be visited with a guide (essential for understanding the history of the site). You can also take part in sea fishing or simple boat excursions.

Chiara Vigo puts into practice the art that has been handed down to her, and promotes unique pieces made from bisso. This bivalve, the largest in the Mediterranean, is the source of the biocculus that transforms into sea silk. Her creations are technical and creative marvels. Every morning, she welcomes you to her workshop and shares a few of her secrets with you. Her know-how has been handed down through the generations, and as proof of this we met Chiara's granddaughter, who has just left school and set to work.

The Trenino Verdemakes a pleasant journey through the landscape of old disused lines. The route between Tempio Pausania and Palau is one of the most picturesque. The train, which runs at between 25 and 40 km/hour, allows you to admire the vegetation at your leisure and to catch a glimpse of postcard views. It stops at Luras, Lake Liscia and Arzachena, before reaching the port of Palau. You can stop at any of the stations to enjoy the localities and finish the journey the next day. The journey takes about 3.5 hours.

The church was built on the site where St. Efisio is said to have been martyred. Built on the foundations of an early Christian church and consecrated at the beginning of the 12th century, the building, with a rather austere interior, is interesting for its architecture of French-Catalan influence. On 2 May, an endless procession that had left Cagliari the day before reached the church around noon. The statue of the saint, carried in a coach, is accompanied by the crowd and by local folk groups. The festival lasts 4 days with concerts, folk dances and other events.

This Nuraghic complex, located in a forest of holm oaks and chestnut trees, houses an unusual concentration of religious, civil and military structures. The site, in its currently open part, is composed of two tombs of giants and a village that includes the remains of a Nuraghic complex and some huts. This area also preserves the remains of 3 sacred wells and a dwelling area of about 200 huts that has not yet been excavated. Fascinating!

An elegant eighteenth-century building houses the bequest made by the heirs of the collector Francesco Paolo Ingrao. 500 works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by famous artists are gathered in palatial rooms: Boccioni, Balla, Depero, Morandi, Severini and De Pisis. The "Collector's rooms" on the ground floor contain other works: paintings, drawings, incisions, bronzes, all arranged in a fascinating disorder. This permanent collection sublimated by modern lighting is very pleasant to visit.

To return to this church, you must ask the key to the church of San Pietro, on via Corvetto, a few meters. It was built in 1796 on the ruins of a church dating back to 1200. According to tradition, the ancient church had been built to commemorate a group of children killed during the shipwreck of the vessel, which had to transport them to the Holy Land during the Crusades. It found the graves of three members of the Porcile family, who controlled the island in 1700.

Before becoming one of the most productive mining sites in Europe between 1850 and 1960, the Montevecchio region was already known for its wealth of lead and zinc. The Romans and Carthaginians were already mining these metals west of Ingurtosu. The Romans mined the rock in tiny galleries. The Carthaginians would heat it and then freeze it and break it up. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the rate of extraction was increased by the Pisans and Aragonese. Around the year 1850, the Sardinian entrepreneur Giovanni Antonio Sanna obtained from the King of Sardinia the right to exploit the site, where he had a village built for the miners. The miners and their families were paid with a currency that could only be used in the shops and bars of the village, so they remained slaves of their bosses. The men work in the underground galleries, their wives break the rocks and separate the powders from the metals outside. Children also work with their parents, without pay or any form of social security. When the Piemontese Anglosarda company obtained the management of the site, production increased enormously, especially during the two wars, with a pressing demand for materials. In the 1960s, the Montevecchio mines became increasingly expensive to operate and their activity ceased definitively at the beginning of the 1990s. The former miners who worked there are now tourist guides who lead visitors through the mining galleries.

Founded in 1106 by Judge Constantine, she was successively occupied by the Benedictine and Franciscans. It is in a more loaded style than other churches in the city. We will dwell especially in the last chapel on the left, to look at the hundreds of ex-voto in heart clinging to the walls. It is also in this church that the candelieri are stored that one walks on the occasion of the celebration of chandeliers, every 14 August.