History Located on the northeast coast of the Sardinia, Olbia is today, as it was in antiquity, the primary city on the eastern coast of the island. The city has taken on a number of names throughout history; Civita, Phausania, and Terranova Pausania, before being changed back to Olbia under Mussolini. Historically, the founding of…
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For this week’s post, I’m going with another round up of some miscellaneous sites in Sardinia. This route can generally be described as the northern part of central Sardinia, roughly the northern part of the Oristano region and the Nuoro region. To see most, if not all, of the sites, a personal vehicle is pretty…
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There are a number of sites in the immediate vicinity of Tharros that are worth seeing. Two of these are in the tiny village of San Salvatore di Sinis, about 10 minutes north of Tharros. The village sits at the junction of the SP7 and SP6, the two roads one would take to get to…
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Like the settlement of Nora, Tharros was established by Phoenician colonists on a narrow promontory to allow for the construction of two harbors, and ensuring the ability for ships to come and go regardless of the wind conditions. Founded in the 8th century BCE by colonists from Tyre, in the same wave as those that…
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About 45 minutes to the south of Pani Loriga, at Capo Malfatano, is the Piscinnì quarry, a Punic-era quarry along the coast. This one requires a bit of hiking. There is a small parking area above the Cala Segreta beach park. There is a trail that leads down to the beach, and then up to…
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Aside from the remains in the major urban centers of Sulcis, Nora, and Caralis in the southern part of Sardinia, there are a number of smaller sites or more isolated sets of remains, as there is throughout the island. I’ve cobbled together some of these sites in a few posts focusing on different geographic areas…
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History Like other later Roman settlements on the southwest coast of Sardinia, Nora owes its urban foundations to the establishment of a Phoenician colony at the site; though there was native Sardinian habitation at the site previously. Pausanias also describes a mythological foundation of the city; an Iberian named Norax crossed to Sardinia, conquered the…
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History Referred to as Plumbaria during Roman times, due to the lead deposits mined on the island, the present-day Isola di Sant’Antioco seems to have been inhabited by the Nuragic culture as early as the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE, and the pre-Nuragic Ozieri even earlier. Sometime around 750-740 BCE, the settlement of Sulcis…
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Continued from Caralis Part I. Orto Botanico di Cagliari Just down the street from the amphitheater is the Orto Botanico di Cagliari, the botanical gardens. The Orto Botanico, located at Via Sant’Ignazio da Laconi 11, are open every day except Monday from 9:00 to 18:00 in the summer (April through October) and 9:00 to 14:00…
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History Scattered among the bustling modern capital of Sardinia are the remains of the Punic and Roman city of Caralis. The favorable geography around Caralis attracted habitation in the area dating back to the Neolithic age. Sometime in the late 8th or early 7th century BCE, the Phoenicians established a colony here called Karaly, one…
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