Domus de Janas, dwellings for eternity

Domus de Janas, dwellings for eternity

An enchanting tour in the north-west of Sardinia, among ‘fairy houses’ carved out of the rock, where legend, sacredness and the cult of ancestors have been lingering for thousands of years

A circular itinerary, with departure and arrival in the Meilogu region and ‘crossing the border’ into the Logudoro Porto Torres area, allowing you to admire the extraordinary legacies left by the late Neolithic peoples. True ‘cities of the dead’, decorated to welcome and, somehow, ‘facilitate’ the passage of the deceased into the afterlife. Inside them, symbols and architectural elements seem to lead back to the desire to create domestic environments and invoke the protection of the gods.

Itinerary: 140 km

Road journey time: 2 hours and 45 minutes for the various journeys

Sant’Andrea Priu – Bonorva

The tour starts with one of the most famous necropolises in Sardinia, where you can admire the ‘Tomba del Capo’ (Tomb of the Head). Eighteen rooms positioned like a maze, with traces of reuse (plasterwork and frescoes) in the early Christian era and numerous architectural details, such as niches and counters. You will also notice them in the other domus, for example in the ‘hut tomb’ and in the ‘chamber tomb’. The double-pitched roof and fireplace on the floor add fascination and the sensation of a ‘home’.

Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu

In the historical region of Logudoro, which occupies the central-northern part of Sardinia, there is a vast and spectacular archaeological burial...

Necropolis of Mandra Antine – Thiesi

After travelling 30 kilometres in a northwesterly direction and after passing Thiesi, you will reach the necropolis of Mandra Antine. It has an aura of legend and spectacular decorations, one of the very rare examples of polychromy in prehistoric tombs throughout the Mediterranean basin. Excavated between the Final Neolithic and Aeneolithic eras, it has four hypogea. The most surprising one is Tomb 3, which has red, black and yellow paintings and mysterious ‘disks’ hanging from the bull horn symbol.

Necropolis of Mandra Antine

It is one of the most important, fascinating and mysterious Domus de Janas burial grounds, located at the foot of a mountain in the Logudoro...

Necropolis of Puttu Codinu – Villanova Monteleone

The itinerary heads north. The people of the Final Neolithic period dug nine domus de Janas into two limestone outcrops. One of these, Tomb 8, will strike you with its rich decorations imitating prehistoric houses: imitation of a double-pitched roof with girders and pilasters, beams and plinths, architraves and false doors with jambs. There is no shortage of bull protomes and, in Tomb 9, there is the hearth, perhaps also used for ritual purposes.

Necropoli di Puttu Codinu - Villanova Monteleone

Necropolis of Puttu Codinu

An interesting and evocative pre-Nuragic site in the Alghero area, in northwestern Sardinia: nine domus de Janas located in a splendid natural setting

Necropolis of Mount Siseri – Putifigari

Travelling west for about twenty kilometres, in an area dotted with nuraghi, you’ll be amazed to see what many consider to be the most spectacular ‘fairy house’ on the Island. The ‘tomb of painted architecture’, known as S’Incantu (The Enchantment). It is the only tomb of the four in the necropolis that can be visited. Bas-reliefs, sculptural elements, chiaroscuro paintings, columns with bull protomes. It’s incredible to think that it was built five thousand years ago.

S'Incantu - necropolis of Mount Siseri

Of the four domus de Janas that make up the famous pre-Nuragic burial ground in the north-west of Sardinia, this is the richest and most intact:...

Santu Pedru necropolis – Alghero

A short journey, of about five kilometres, to visit the ten domus in the Santu Pedru necropolis. They are carved out of trachytic tuff and date back to the 4th millennium BC. Tomb 1 stands out for its long dromos (corridor), with traces of red ochre painting and architectural elements, columns, architraves, cornices and plinths, which suggest its use as a sanctuary. Tomb 4 was undoubtedly a sanctuary, converted into a church in the 6th century AD, with apses, altars and a cross carved into the wall.

Santu Pedru necropolis

Archaeology and sea: one of the most fascinating prehistoric collective burial places is located next to the ultimate tourist resort in the north...

Necropolis of Sa Figu – Ittiri

We then return east, stopping in the Coros area. Just outside Ittiri there is an extraordinary archaeological park that bears witness to the evolution of the necropolises, from Domus de Janas to hypogea and the architectural façade. You will find ‘classic’ domus, some extended and integrated with steles and exedra and others that were new or renovated in the Nuragic age. All this is complemented by a megalithic enclosure, over which macabre legends still linger.

Necropolis of Sa Figu

This archaeological park sits atop a plateau in Logudoro, twenty kilometres from Sassari in the north-west of Sardinia, amidst a plethora of...

Necropolis of Corona Moltana – Bonnanaro

The last 36 kilometres of the itinerary lead to a plateau just outside Bonnanaro. Corona Moltana is one of the most important necropolises of Sardinian prehistory: its artefacts have defined the culture of Bonnanaro, a phase in the Early Bronze Age, just before the Nuragic era. Of the five tombs, the first one is the best preserved: you will see a sloping roof, raised decorations and cupules for votive offerings.