Punctual as clockwork, the light of the Moon has returned to illuminate – after more than 18 years – the bottom of the Nuragic Well of Santa Cristina in Paulilatino. On the night of January 12, at the highest moon, about a hundred people witnessed the event that tells of the link between the Nuragic Well of Santa Cristina and the Moon. Around 11:40 pm, when the Moon passed to the South at an altitude of about 78°, the moonlight completely crossed the circular opening above the well, illuminating the water at the bottom.
The particular astronomical orientation of the Nuragic Well of Santa Cristina was discovered in 1973 by Sardinian researchers Carlo Maxia and Lello Fadda with the astronomer Edoardo Proverbio . Archaeoastronomical studies were resumed in the 2000s by Professor Arnold Lebeuf, professor of history of religions at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, who identified a real lunar "calendar" in the walls of the well, capable of predicting eclipses. In fact, the Moon not only illuminates the bottom of the well, but also the steps of the internal edges. Spaced out regularly, they are highlighted by the moonlight in the darkness of the well.
Great anticipation for this event, which has seen curious people arrive from all over Sardinia and the continent, to admire what Professor Lebeuf has defined as a "Lunar Observatory". Despite the presence of a dense cloud cover, when the Moon was at the highest point of its path the sky opened up , thus allowing those present to watch with great admiration the light of the Moon in the well.
The Nuragic Well of Santa Cristina, built around the 11th century BC, does not seem to have a random orientation, but is linked to ancient rites that see the Moon and water as protagonists. Another 18 and a half years – approximately – separate us from the next “Moon in the Well” , a time that will be used by archaeologists and archaeoastronomers to try to reveal the link between the Moon and the well.