Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu and Su Nuraxi di Barumini

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu

   Four or five thousand years ago, people on the high plateau of Campo di Santa Lucia in Sardinia carved a whole apartment of rooms into a cliff of soft volcanic rock, to house their dead. The Sardinians call these rock-cut tombs domus de janas, houses of the fairies, and Sant'Andrea Priu, near Bonorva, has some of the most remarkable. The largest, known as the Tomba del Capo, has a series of chambers whose walls and ceilings imitate the beams and pillars of a real house. Centuries later, in the early Christian and Byzantine period, it was converted into a church and its walls were painted with frescoes, some of which survive.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu is where the day begins. Next is Necropolis of Istevéne.

2. 2. Necropolis of Istevéne

   In Sardinian folklore, the little rock-cut tombs scattered across the island were the homes of janas, tiny fairies or witches who wove on golden looms and came out at night. Archaeologists call them domus de janas, fairy houses, and date them to the Neolithic and Copper Age, thousands of years before the famous nuraghi towers. The necropolis of Istevéne, near Mamoiada in the heart of the Barbagia, is a group of these chambers cut into the granite, some with carved details imitating the beams and doorways of real houses, and it belongs among the prehistoric Sardinian tombs that have gained UNESCO recognition.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Istevéne write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Necropolis of Istevéne comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Su Nuraxi di Barumini.

3. 3. Su Nuraxi di Barumini

   Nobody quite knew what lay under the mound outside Barumini until the 1950s, when the archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu, himself a native of the village, began to dig. What emerged was the most complete nuragic complex on Sardinia: a central stone tower built in the Bronze Age, later surrounded by a bastion with four corner towers and an outer wall, and beyond that the remains of a village of round huts. Su Nuraxi was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997, and it remains the best place on the island to understand the nuragic civilisation, which left thousands of these towers across Sardinia.

   Read the complete Su Nuraxi di Barumini write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 181 km into the recorded legs you reach Su Nuraxi di Barumini. Next is back through Necropolis of Istevéne.

4. 4. back through Necropolis of Istevéne

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Istevéne write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Necropolis of Istevéne, late in the day. Next is Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu.

5. 5. Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu. That is the ride.