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SUMMARY DEFINITION OF THE SITES:
NURAGHE: A type of prehistoric monument widespread in Sardinia (where around 7,000 are found, in varying states of preservation), dating from just before the mid-2nd millennium BC. It is generally a truncated cone tower with an architraved doorway, an access corridor, and an internal circular chamber covered by a corbelled dome (or pseudo-dome).

GIANTS’ TOMBS: The giants’ tombs (Sardinian: tumbas de sos mannos) are monuments that were reused as collective tombs during the Nuragic age, presumably between the Early Bronze Age and the Final Bronze Age (1800-1100 BC), and are found throughout Sardinia.

DOMUS DE JANAS: The domus de janas are prehistoric tombs carved into the rock, typical of pre-Nuragic Sardinia. They are found both individually and in large groupings consisting of more than 40 tombs.

MENHIR: Menhirs (from the Breton men and hir “long stone”; in Italian also “pietrafitta”) are monolithic megaliths (from the Greek “large stone”) (not to be confused with dolmens, polylithic and usually assembled in a portal), usually erected during the Neolithic, and could reach more than twenty meters in height, such as the broken Grand Menhir of Locmariaquer (in Morbihan in Brittany).

SACRED WELLS: The Nuragic sacred well is a particular underground temple structure present in Sardinia and intended during the Bronze Age for the cult of water. Its architectural structure is considered among the most elaborate on the island and is a clear example of the construction mastery achieved by the Nuragic people. It is found throughout the island and together with the giants’ tombs and the megaron temples testifies to the profoundly religious spirit of the Sardinian populations during the Nuragic civilization.

COASTAL TOWERS: The coastal towers of Sardinia are a group of fortified buildings which from the early Middle Ages (period between 476 and 1000 AD) until the mid-nineteenth century, formed the defense, sighting and communication system along the coasts of the island.

TONNARE (Tuna Fishing Site): Tuna fishing developed in the first half of the seventeenth century and, albeit with moments of crisis, was still flourishing in the eighteenth century. Even if the traps were normally born from private initiative, the right to “lower” a trap was surrendered by the Crown, that is, given in concession by the government to a private individual (or a company) in exchange for a consideration (in money or kind) punctually indicated in the surrender deed. The lowering of a tuna trap attracted tuna fishermen and specialized workers to Sardinia from various parts of the Mediterranean and in particular from Sicily and Liguria. Foreigners often decided to reside permanently in the Kingdom of Sardinia. Their presence could thus give rise to new coastal settlements. This is the case, for example, of Portoscuso.

ANCIENT MINES: The mining areas are a characteristic feature of the Sardinian landscape, whichit hosts some of the largest metal mineral extraction areas in Europe.
This landscape peculiarity must be preserved and protected, for reasons
historical and social and to encourage the recovery of former mining areas for tourism or production purposes, which the public administration, which in most cases owns the
abandoned mining areas, intends to carry forward.

COUNTRY CHURCHES: The definition of “country church” or “rural church” refers to a religious building, isolated, in the countryside, whether on the plain or in the mountains, linked to agriculture and livestock farming, a place of worship built and frequented by farmers and shepherds.