Nuraghe, Mountain Towns & Murals: Crossing Sardinia.
The nuraghe of Sardinia have been the subject of considerable debate over the years, with some disagreement over their original functions and purposes. According to what appears to be the current school of thought, and definitely the thrust of websites and guide books, the reason for the confusion is that the nuraghe were multi purpose and therefore inconsistent in design from one to the next.
What is certain is that they are unique to Sardinia, that traces of over 10,000 have been identified, 7,000 of which are still standing in one form or another. Grain stores, fortresses, family homes, lookout posts, communal meeting places…all have been theories, each with strong evidence to justify the theory. In essence all of these theories are true, the nuraghe being effectively multi purpose mini castles. They are also impossible to miss if you make any kind of journey across or around the island.
Our next journey takes us from west coast to east, so rather than do things in a hurry we opt firstly to detour to five different nuraghe locations, and secondly to break the journey with an overnight stay on the top of the island high up in the mountain range which is Sardinia’s spine. It’s a great drive full of both interest and spectacular scenery.
At Losa the nuraghe complex is extensive and visitor friendly, but Zuros, the so called Tomb of the Giants, and Su Pranu, the sites are remote, unmanned and largely inaccessible. Lastly, at the most extensive site of all, Su Nuraxi di Barumini, access is by guided tour only. At Losa, as we were at S’Archittu on our own steam the previous day, we are free to wander around the entire site and climb its unusual internal spiral ramp. At Su Nuraxi the experience is even more adventurous despite the formality of a guided tour, climbing through precarious passageways to examine the different sections of the construction.
Many nuraghe, as is the case at Losa, feature the spiral internal ramp as the means of ascent to the top. There would originally have been a header to the nuraghe, giving the whole construction a mushroom shape, though the roofs of all have long since disintegrated. These multiple and mysterious structures were built by people of whom little is known, so little in fact that they are simply known by historians as the “nuraghe people”, or the “nuragic civilisation”, the race named after the buildings rather than the other way round. The nuraghe people are believed to have inhabited Sardinia for millennia even before the Bronze Age, creating the nuraghe structures between 1600 and 1200BC in a 400-year building frenzy.
At Santa Cristina, a Christian village was constructed on and around the nuraghe site in the 12th century, remains of both the giant nuraghe and the two villages from different eras remain accessible. Among the pagan rituals of the nuraghi civilisation were those centred around the supply of water: here at Santa Cristina, the complex grew around a well. Historians have concluded that the positioning of the Christian church, directly between the well and the nuraghe, was so placed to break the pagan line.
Leaving our five very different nuraghe visits behind, we follow the road up into the mountains, through a 10-kilometre section where road surface disappears and rocky track takes over, up eventually to the small town of Fonni, 3000ft above sea level, for our one night stand. Described on web pages as “a taste of the real Sardinia”, Fonni is quiet, reserved and a million miles away from the touristic coastal towns. Here the cuisine is undeniably mountain rather than marine and we enjoy a hearty and fulfilling wild boar stew in what is Sardinia’s highest village.
And yet, Fonni isn’t without its quirks. For a start, it is home to a “Paleo” at which the rivalry of the competing teams is at least as passionate as the more famous equivalent in Siena, and, judging by the steep and narrow cobbled streets, at least as dangerous.
Moreover, Fonni has a completely absorbing way of telling its history, through a whole series of delightful and beautifully painted murals dotted around the town. The scenes depicted are lifelike, colourful and absolutely not without humour – study some of the photos above and below and see if you can work out which are the real windows, doors, balconies etc , and which are part of the mural. Wandering around Fonni on a kind of mural treasure hunt wiles away a couple of rewarding hours before we move on.
Move on we do, down from the heights of Fonni, down through forests of pine and cork oaks, across agricultural fields recently harvested with straw bales still evident, heading inexorably to the perfect blue waters of Sardinia’s eastern coast. Detouring for a quick cooling dip in the Med at Spiaggi Cartoe, our journey continues along the spectacular coast road to our next destination, the small town of Orosei.
“This was my great grandmother’s home”, explains Eleonora as she opens the door to our apartment, “we only made these apartments this summer. I hope you enjoy”.
We settle in behind the grand doors of the elegant townhouse and prepare to explore the beautiful stretch of coastline around Orosei.
26 Comments
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
The nuraghe are fascinating and how great that you were able to do such an extensive exploration of their community sites. And those murals! Absolutely wonderful. Thanks for sharing all your great pictures and observations. Cheers.
Phil & Michaela
That little town and its murals were a revelation! We were pleased we planned the route via both there and the five nuraghe sites, all part of Sardinia’s history.
Eha Carr
Thank you, dear teachers – you don’t know how ignorant I feel at the moment! I truly had never heard of ‘nuraghe’ and have difficulty believing those brilliant murals in Fonni – who, when and why? Fantastic! Don’t know I would like to live in a mountain village in Sardinia, but surely would love to spend a week just walking and absorbing 🙂 !
Phil & Michaela
I can’t find much history, but somebody somewhere decided it was a good way to record the village’s history! But apparently its origins are rumoured to be in revolts and uprisings and has spread from there. It’s a wonderful way to tell your story huh. The nuraghe are fascinating too, and quite unique.
Monkey's Tale
The nuraghi are fascinating. Made even more mysterious by not knowing much about them or their people. And the murals in Fonni are gorgeous, so life like. What a great part of your trip! Maggie
Phil & Michaela
Yes, so pleased we too, our time over that drive. We knew about the nuraghe but Fonni was a delightful surprise.
Toonsarah
We found the nuraghe as fascinating as you did, though we only managed to visit two. One was Su Nuraxi di Barumini and I agree about the narrow passageways 😀 The other was Piscu, one of the small and free to visit ones, similar to your Su Pranu I think. One thing that struck me was how brown the surrounding countryside is in your photos compared with when we visited last April (unsurprisingly though of course). The murals in Fonni are fantastic – we saw some in several villages but nowhere had anything like that number!
Phil & Michaela
Parts of the island are really parched, but in many areas there’s plenty of greenery too. Yep the nuraghe carry a certain mystery, great to explore, and as for Nonni and its murals, a delightful surprise!
The Flask Half Full
LOVE the murals – I’m a big fan of street art – of any kind – wherever we travel. But what kind of tar-and-white-feather Sardinian street justice is being meted out in that one mural?
Phil & Michaela
Ah now that’s one I CAN answer. It’s a mural representation of one of the town’s carnivals, where the hunters act out hunting down a wild boar and carry out a mock slaughter.
The Flask Half Full
Ah, mock slaughter. That was my second guess. 😉
WanderingCanadians
It’s amazing how many nuraghe are still around today. It’s too bad much remains a mystery about the structures and those that built them. Love all the murals in Fonni.
Phil & Michaela
They are certainly unique, the nuraghe that is.
wetanddustyroads
The nuraghe is so interesting (one can almost come to your own conclusion about what it was used for). And wow, I really like the murals in Fonni – I was disappointed when I reached the end of your post because I enjoyed it so much. Thank you for all the photos!
Phil & Michaela
Amazing number of murals for such a small town, was great finding them all.
Phil & Michaela
You’ve done a major catch up on our posts today, Corna. Thank you so much for taking the huge amount of time you must have spent. Very much appreciated 🙏🙏
wetanddustyroads
It felt like I had read a very interesting book that I just couldn’t put down 😁.
Phil & Michaela
Wow thank you 😄🙏
grandmisadventures
What a unique and interesting piece of the area’s history. And such a wealth of beautiful murals around the city 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Fascinating, all of it! So many murals in such a small town…
Alison
The photos I dream of finding. I’m a big mural fan and these are just incredible. Also following your trip on Michaela’s Instagram and FB, which I’m loving
Phil & Michaela
Cheers Ali, great murals huh. Hope you’re doing OK.
Lookoom
Thank you for the introduction to the Nuragic civilisation, definitely a point of interest in Sardinia.
Phil & Michaela
They certainly left their nark, with so many structures still standing
Annie Berger
Really enjoying your Sardinia series, as I knew nothing about the island, and had also never
heard of nuraghe. Steven and I would also want to discover as many of those as possible. Likewise, ditto on the murals in Fossi – what a find there!
Phil & Michaela
There are some lovely places on the island, no doubt at all!