In Monte Urpinu the nuragic palace of Cagliari

The cave

"Today, - declares Ugas, former professor of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of the capital and profound connoisseur of Nuragic Sardinia - on the relief of Monte Urpinu, it would have been possible to admire an imposing fortress had it not been devoured for the most part by the quarry that opened a chasm on its east side, and seriously damaged by the fort of the last war. The water tank is instead located in the area where one of the towers of the quadrilobed bastion once stood ». The extraordinary discovery of the nuraghe of Monte Urpinu allows us to better understand a piece of news from the distant 1926: "So - says Dessì - the superintendent of archeology of Sardinia, Antonio Taramelli, wrote in an article on the Nuraghe Domu 'e S'Orku di Sarroch : "Mr. Nissardi, an accurate observer, assured me that in his youth he had most likely observed a relic of a nuragic building on Monte Urpino, east of Cagliari, full of finds of lithic artefacts, maximum of obsidian". This news was not followed up and was picked up sporadically, in particular by the archaeologist Enrico Atzeni in an article included in the volume on Santa Igia published in 1986 and edited by the medievalist Barbara Fois. The finds found in the sites of Bonaria, via Campidano, in the area of via Brenta and via Po, of Sa Illetta suggest various nuragic settlements in the Cagliari area, but the concrete trace of a nuraghe had not been identified with certainty, while more abundant are the pre-Nuragic testimonies: the caves, frequented since the Neolithic period, of Sant'Elia and San Bartolomeo, the Aeneolithic tombs of Monte Claro and Sa Duchessa ».

Great building

The emotion and surprise of Giovanni Ugas who feels immense joy: "I thought that Filippo Nissardi had glimpsed the ruins of a small nuraghe, a watchtower, and instead, to my surprise, I noticed in the midst of the mastic and euphorbia the remains of another monument: a grandiose building that had to dominate from over 20 meters high a stupendous panorama with a 360 degree view ». According to Dessì "the remains of the nuraghe, white like the splendid Nuraghe Mereu of Orgosolo, built with limestone boulders recovered from Monte Urpinu, allow us to understand the shape of its original design, that of a large nuraghe with a four-lobed bastion surrounded by a wall external and the anthemural comprising an unspecified number of towers. Of the fortress, three or four rows of an entire quadrilobate wall curtain, over 20 meters long, and the sketch of the curves of the two adjacent towers are visible, as well as the top of the perimeter of a tower of the outer wall ». Ugas indicates the broad horizon: «The attention is captured by the many villages and nuraghi in the surrounding area. Among others, the Nuraghe Diana di Quartu, Cuccuru Nuraxi di Settimo San Pietro, Bi'e Palma di Selargius, Monte Olladiri and Monte Zara di Monastir, Sant'Uanni di Dolianova, and on the west side Antigori di Sarroch can be observed, Niu de su Pilloni from Uta, Monte Idda and Casteddu de Fanari from Decimoputzu, Su Sonadori from Villasor. The "palace" of Monte Urpinu was the missing piece, the most important link, of the Nuragic settlement design of southern Campidano including the other nuragic palaces of Sant'Uanni, Casteddu de Fanari and Su Sonadori, which controlled and guided as many tribal territories . Cagliari was evidently the gateway to Campidano already in the Nuragic age, where the land of the Iliesi people began. The domination of space was the fundamental function of the nuraghe and the control, on the sea routes, of the ships that reached the ports of Sardinia from Sicily and further from Greece and Crete comes to mind ».

The history of the city

Giovanni Ugas highlights that the nuraghe of Monte Urpinu is not only of archaeological importance. The history of Cagliari acquires a new centrality and a more complete meaning: "The Greek historian of Sicily Diodorus, in the first century BC, told, in a mythical tale, that Cagliari was founded, together with Olbia, by Iolao, the hero of Thebes Companion of Heracles. Indeed, Diodorus Siculus called Agryle, Greekizing it, the city that was known to the Carthaginians as Karel and to the Romans as Karales. Therefore that of Cagliari is a name with very ancient roots, at least of Nuragic origin. No less interesting is the narration of Pausanias on the cultural hero Aristaeus who, according to the myth, came from Boeotia, taught the Sardinians how to produce the wine, oil, milk, honey and cheese of which the island evidently belonged. rich. Aristeo would have called Daedalus to build the nuraghi, in a time that preceded Iolao. It is said of Aristeo that he was Lord of Cagliari and that he pacified the peoples of the Libi and Iberians. The name "Lord of Cagliari" by Aristeo is very significant and may suggest a cult dedicated to a Sardinian deity equated to the Greek Aristeo, or the fact that, already in the Nuragic age, Aristeo was the correspondent of a king and then Cagliari it must have already been the most important center of Sardinia, as confirmed by the nuraghe of Monte Urpinu ».

The protection

The Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage has been informed of the discovery. Unpublished scenarios open up with the possibility of acquiring completely new data. The white nuraghe at the top of the Cagliari hill is an original page: "Now - Giovanni Ugas and Nicola Dessì conclude - the need arises for the protection, restoration, and enhancement of the monument, through scientific research that sheds full light on its presence on the top of Monte Urpinu, at the gates of Campidano and Sardinia ».

Massimiliano Rais