-> Medio Campidano Route

MEDIO CAMPIDANO PROVINCE

Sanluri - Villamar - Barumini - Orroli - Tuili - Sardara

Time: half a day - Lenght: about 40 km

Ruins of Marmilla Castle, Las Plassas

The first part includes a visit to the town centre of Sanluri, where there is the Castle and Museo Risorgimentale (Risorgimento Museum) in Piazza Castello. The Castle, known as the Castle of Eleonora d’Arborea, built when the Giudicato of Cagliari was under the influence of Pisa, was completely renovated in 1300. It belongs to the Villasanta family and is home to the Museo Risorgimentale Duca d’Aosta (Duke of Aosta Risorgimento Museum). Inside there are relics from the wars of independence, the colonial wars and the second world war, swords and furnishings belonging to the Bonaparte family, Gabriele D’Annunzio’s collection of letters and a rich collection of waxes dating back to the 16th -20th centuries, reproducing monuments, historical figures and religious scenes. Going along Via Carlo Felice you come to the square where there is the parish church of Nostra Signora delle Grazie, which was rebuilt in its present form of Piedmont "barocchetto" between 1781-86 from the project of Carlo Maino and Antonio Ignazio Carta. From the east outskirts of Sanluri, follow the road for a few kilometres to the junction for Villamar. Turn left after about 8 Km and you will come to the built-up centre of Villamar, the old capital of the Marmilla curatoria (administrative division), which is characterised by its historical centre with ladiri architecture (bricks made of raw mud). Going along Via Vittorio Emanuele III, you come to the Romanesque church of San Pietro and from here you reach the parish church of San Giovanni Battista, which preserves the Retable of Villamar painted by Pietro Cavaro in 1518. In the centre of the work a niche contains the wooden statue of the Virgin and Child surmounted by the scene of the Crucifixion. San Francesco (receiving the stigmata), the Archangel Michele, San Giovanni Battista and the Baptism of Christ dominate the side sections. While episodes of the life of Mary are portrayed in the predella. Take the SP 197 from the northern outskirts of Villamar. After passing Villanovafranca and Las Plassas, after about 10 Km you will come to the town centre of Barumini, where there is: the striking monumental ex-Capuchin complex of San Francesco, which dates back to 1609, now the site of an active Cultural Centre; Palazzo dei marchesi Zapata, that dates back to the first quarter of the seventeenth century, characterised by its classicist windows and late Gothic decorations; the parish church dedicated to the Beata Vergine Immacolata built in late Gothic style in the first half of the sixteenth century.

If you leave Barumini and head east across the slopes of the important naturalistic area of giara di Gesturi, you come to Orroli, where there is the nuraghe Arrubiu, one of the largest in Sardinia. Its central tower, surrounded by bastions, is preserved for a height of over 16 metres. Excavation work is still being carried out. Leaving the west tip of the built-up area of Barumini, you come to the nuraghe Su Nuraxi, which is the most famous, also because it is classified by UNESCO among the monuments that belong to the world heritage. It was built after 1600 B.C. and inhabited until at least 500B.C.

Surrounded by the village with residential huts and general meeting areas, the impressive size of the central keep with three overlapping areas rises on the complex of towers, giving the nuraghe a polylobed form. A visit inside is particularly suggestive and unwinds along routes, some outside and some through narrow corridors made in the mighty walls of the basaltic blocks.

Continuing along the same road you come to the nearby centre of Tuili. The parish church of San Pietro Apostolo stands in the upper part of the town and preserves the beautiful Retable of Tuili by the Maestro of Castelsardo, the only work by this author, which can be dated to between 1489 and 1500. The figure of the Virgin on the throne and child is painted in the middle, surmounted by the Crucifixion, whilst figures of saints dominate the side panels. Take the road from the south outskirts of the town to the town centre of Sardara, past Pauli Arbarei, Lunamatrona, Villanovaforru and Collinas; here there is an important thermal complex and also several interesting churches in the built-up area: San Gregorio, with a beautiful Gothic double-lancet window and Santa Anastasia, which stands on a sacred well that dates back to the Nuraghi period. Outside the built-up area, near the ancient Roman baths there is the church of Santa Maria is Aquas and, secluded upon a hill on the road to San Gavino Monreale, there are the ruins of the ancient castello giudicale di Monreale (judicial castle of Monreale).