Su Nuraxi di Barumini

Sardinia is dotted with nuraghi, the stone towers of the Bronze Age Nuragic civilization, and Su Nuraxi at Barumini is the most complete of them. The name simply means "the nuraghe" in Campidanese Sardinian. Scholars regard it as the most impressive expression of that civilization, and it was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997. What makes it special is not a single tower but a whole fortified complex, with the remains of a village clustered around its base.

The core is a central tower built of basalt blocks between the 17th and 13th centuries BC. It originally rose about 18.6 m and contained three chambers stacked one above the other. In the Late Bronze Age four corner towers were added and joined by a curtain wall, all opening onto an inner courtyard with its own well. In the Iron Age the whole bastion was ringed by a further wall with seven lobes. Its original purpose is still argued over. Giovanni Lilliu, the archaeologist who excavated it, supported the traditional view that it was a fortress, while others think the oldest part had religious or civic functions.

Around the nuraghe grew a village of round huts with dry-stone walls and conical roofs of timber and branches. Over the centuries it held anywhere from forty to two hundred huts, and perhaps 100 to 1,000 people. Some larger buildings were set aside for meetings, and one contained symbols of the gods worshipped here. In the 9th and 8th centuries BC the village gained paved streets, a square and a drainage system. It was destroyed in the 6th century BC, rebuilt under Carthaginian rule and later used by the Romans before being abandoned. The site was excavated in full by Lilliu, a local expert, between 1950 and 1957.

Visits are allowed only with a guide. In the village, Casa Zapata shows the remains of another nuraghe beneath a 15th-century palace, together with the finds.

Getting there

Barumini is a small inland town about 50 km north of Cagliari, the island's capital and nearest city of any size. The nearest airport is Cagliari Elmas (CAG), about 50 km away.