There are over 7000 examples
spread all over Sardinia, characterised by truncated-conic towers with a circular internal room
covered by a tholos or false dome (nur is a preindoeuropean word that means "hollow heap").
They present various architectural solutions. The results are often amazing for the richness of
the defensive system added to the central tholos: further towers, ramparts, surrounding walls
and then loop-holes, guard towers and trap doors. Everything was done in order to defend the
communities who lived in villages of circular huts, often built around the "royal-fortress", from
their external and internal enemies and to protect the fruit of their labours.
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 Oristano - Nuraghe |
Torralba - Nuraghe Santu Antine |
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Su Nuraxi in Barumini (in the
province of Cagliari) is one of the richest and perhaps the most famous nuraghe on the Island,
the majestic Losa, that can be reached from the SS 131 at Abbasanta, the Palmavera in the
Gulf of Alghero, not far from the above mentioned Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju or the imposing
and charming Santu Antine in Torralba (Sassari), all evoke images of the daily toil in the fields,
in the pastures, in the metalworks and speak of the preoccupation of defending the territory of
their villages.
However the unique nuragic towers will also capture the attention of the traveller who drives
around the Island, coming into sight perhaps out of the blue on a high ground or in the middle
of an open plain in the countryside, testifying to an inseparable link between the past and the
present.
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