Magical places in Sardinia: a 5 stops itinerary

It is difficult to enclose the intricate Sardinian mythology and culture in an article, but you can certainly start with curiosity and amazement to discover some stops, which we have included in an itinerary... magical to say the least!

So, are you ready to discover some magical places in Sardinia, in a itinerary off-the-beaten-track?

Sardinia, perhaps one of the most magical regions of Italy, with its ancestral rites linked to fairies and the festivities of the Dead, the Dionysian Carnival and astronomical events.
We are over-synthesizing, but Sardinia is truly an evocative land, majestic in its landscapes as well as in its celebrations, deeply linked to pagan as well as religious tradition.

A land with a thousand-year history, which has seen the passage of countless cultures and peoples, and their footsteps are still deep in architecture and legends.

If you have followed the Salude&Trigu calendar, you will know about the ancient festivities linked to wine, blood, land and rebirth, as well as religious holidays, or music.

In addition to the magical festivals, obviously, there is also no shortage of magical places, linked to legends and mythical figures.

So here is an itinerary of magical places in Sardinia to discover and put on your bucket list of wonders:

If the chosen port to arrive in Sardinia is Alghero or Porto Torres, you can start this magical journey immersing yourself in the nature of Lake Baratz.

Located between the Porto Ferro beach and the township of Villa Assunta, Lake Baratz is the only natural basin in Sardinia. Dense vegetation and absolute peace, it is the ideal destination for walking while admiring the view and the birdlife, among the network of paths that wind through the vegetation and the coastal towers.

However, this tranquil body of water hides a sinister tale.

Under the waters of the lake, about 5 meters deep, the remains of a cursed village are hidden: the ancient center of Barax.

Home of greedy, libertines and corrupt, Barax therefore suffered a divine punishment, being flooded and destroyed by the Rio dei Giunchi, which still reverses in the lake.

Thus its inhabitants paid the penalty for their sins, and Barax disappeared among the waters... except that even today on windy nights, the wind seems instead to be the chorus of a hundred desperate moans. Or so many locals and nocturnal adventurers swear.

Would you feel like wandering around the lakeside paths, or even taking a canoe ride on the surface of the water?

Continuing towards Sassari, the provincial capital and City of Candelieri, we can only recommend a visit to the monumental Altar of Monte d'Accoddi.

This important and fascinating archaeological site, located in the hamlet of Ottava, dates back to 4000 BC, and is considered a unique complex in Europe and throughout the Mediterranean due to its similarity to the Mesopotamian ziggurats.

There are many speculations and suppositions on possible links and descendants between the Mesopotamian culture and the Sardinians, arising from this monument.

However,based on reconstructed facts and the archaeological excavations conducted, we know that it was certainly a very articulate complex, including a temple-altar with a large stele, the remains of a village, underground tombs and various sacrificial stations.

There still are even some gigantic platform stones, perforated to let the blood of sacrificial victims flow.

And if this isn't enough to spark your curiosity, do you know that the Temple seems to correspond to the ancient position of where the Southern Cross stars were 5000 years ago?

The stelae found also seem to suggest that the Temple was dedicated to Sun and Moon cults, which would also be symbolized by the enormous spherical boulders found on the site, and that the rites carried out there were in honor of fertility and the life cycle and death, also given the spectacular view of its position, which dominates the scene.

In short, a meeting point between human and divine, between heaven and earth... fascinating and mysterious, a magical place absolutely worth visiting!

To the eye they appear as small lithic caves, alveoli with rounded entrances dug into the rock... but inside they are spectacular underground tombs covered with very rich frescoes and paintings that tell the story of the succession of different eras and peoples.

We are talking about the archaeological site of the domus de janas of Sant'Andria Priu, in the green plain of Bonorva; dating back to 3500 BC. but with the particularity of having been used and structurally modified until the Middle Ages, they are a legacy of extraordinary importance, also given the exceptional state of conservation and variety of architectural details present.

Of the twenty tombs present, not all can be visited, but consider that just the one identified as the Tomb of the Chief has eighteen rooms, with pillars and columns, and a further peculiarity: frescoes from the Roman-Byzantine era; the tomb had in fact been converted into a rock church and frescoed several times.

Finally, again in 1300 AD, it was reconsecrated this time to Sant'Andrea and used as a gathering space for Christians.

In short, many stories to tell in a truly unique place... we assure you that it is worth the guided tour!

If every time, hearing domus de janas that means "fairy houses", you are disappointed to find... tombs, this time we won't let you down!

If you are looking for a "real" fairy house, Sedini is your stop!

Leave Bonorva behind and go up north to the small town of Sedini.

Here, with a splendid view of the valley and along winding streets, you can visit a truly unique house museum: a bizarre and asymmetrical construction carved into the rock, known as the House of the Fairies.

This ancient medieval village in the center of Anglona has many buildings and homes created on top of the blocks of rock, or even directly inside it, but this domus in particular is located inside an enormous limestone boulder which dates back to 3000 BC. it had been excavated to create a necropolis, in fact.

As in Bonorva, here the domus was converted into a home in the Middle Ages, and even into a prison during the period of the Spanish Inquisition.

Having returned to being a house, used until recent times, it is now home to the Museum of Ethnographic Traditions of Anglona. But don't imagine just a simple museum, this is truly a magical place: among winding staircases, trap doors and hidden attics, niches with skulls and bones, finds from the period of the Inquisition and the Sardinian witches, objects of torture and historical costumes, as well 500 pieces and many fascinating legends await you in this place!

Sedini is in fact also known as the town of witches, due to the many women accused of witchcraft and executed here by the Inquisition, and this museum is their interesting legacy... or their fascinating home?

To end this beautiful journey wandering around Northern Sardinia, so as to leave from Olbia airport, why not meet us for an evening of astronomical exploration, or a morning meditating in the fresh air of dawn, in one of the magnetic Tombs of the Giants in the Arzachena area?

A surreal monumental landscape, with its animal-shaped rocks and incredible granite formations, which has nothing to envy of Stonehenge!

The Tombs of the Giants, so called due to their considerable size, which could accommodate a reclining giant inside them, are an impressive legacy of funerary architecture from the Nuragic era. Like the domus de janas, they therefore had the function of collective tombs, however in this case they are not dug into the rock, but built in flat areas with aligned stone blocks.

The characteristic of these tombs are the gigantic granite slabs stuck vertically in the ground, aboundaries the perimeter or indicate the entrance, giving these funerary monuments a majestic and decidedly enigmatic appearance.

You can choose between the Li Lolghi Tombs, with the nearby necropolis Li Muri or the Coddu Vecchiu Tombs, connected by the Sentiero dei Giganti route to the Nuraghe La Prisgiona.

Both sites are worth a visit, to be carried out with respect, tranquility and amazement for such a magical place, immersed in nature.

This is just a taste of the magical places that Sardinia preserves, and which deserve proper protection and valorization by local administrations. Fortunately, the new generations are increasingly sensitive to the historical and naturalistic richness of the Sardinian territory, and there are many guided routes and paths in the process of being regulated. You will be spoiled for choice!

Which of these locations did you already know?