Barigadu

Nature, archaeology, history and culture between lake, river and villages

The historical region of Barigadu is one of the most evocative inland areas of Sardinia, located between Barbagia, Campidano Oristano and Mandrolisai. This territory is made up of agricultural villages, landscapes of Mediterranean scrub, oak woods and forests where native fauna and flora coexist in environments that are still not very tame, offering a slow and immersive tourism experience.

One of the elements that strongly characterizes the Barigadu is Lake Omodeo,the largest artificial basin in Europe by surface area. Its waters, which emerge from the Santa Chiara dam (located near Ulà Tirso),ave made the area a natural and landscape point of great impact. The shores of the lake, surrounded by basaltic plateaus and Mediterranean scrub, are now frequented by those who want to go canoeing, kayaking, scenic walks, picnics and bird-watching.

Thermal bath and Archeology

The territory is crossed by the Tirso river,he main watercourse of the island, whose valley has favored, since ancient times, human settlements and communications between the interior and the coastal areas. Right along the Tirso stands Fordongianus, an ancient center known to the Romans as Forum Traiani and still renowned today for its thermal and archaeological heritage. Here is one of the most important sites of Barigadu: the Roman baths of the Aquae Ypsitanae, with thermal facilities from the I-III century AD that exploited natural sulphurous water at about 54-56 °C and which testify to the health and social importance of these waters already in ancient times.

The thermal complex is part of a context rich in prehistoric and nuragic finds: the entire surrounding area preserves nuraghi and domus de janas, a sign of a human presence that dates back to the Neolithic and Nuragic civilization.

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Traditions and Culture

Within this landscape and historical network, villages emerge that preserve strong cultural identities. Samugheo, despite being historically part of the nearby Mandrolisai, is a reference center for Sardinian textile art: its production of carpets, tapestries and traditional fabrics is one of the most important expressions of island craftsmanship, kept in the Single Regional Museum of Sardinian Textile Art (MURATS) and celebrated through popular events and demonstrations.

The cultural dimension is intertwined with rurality and agrarian history in villages such as Allai, Ardauli, Bidonì, Busachi, Sorradile, Neoneli and Villanova Truschedu, where the architecture of the trachyte houses and the glimpses of the courtyards tell of centuries of peasant life and social relations linked to the land and the work of the fields.

In particular, Ula Tirso, an ancient agricultural center overlooking the banks of the Tirso and under the reservoir of Lake Omodeo, preserves in its historic center archaeological evidence from the prehistoric to the Roman period, various historical sacred architectures, and an urban layout that reflects the local cultural stratifications. ali.

Nature and History

Nature and wild fauna are another strongly characterizing element of the region: in the wooded areas between Neoneli and Nughedu Santa Vittoria there is the Assai's naturalistic oasis, where it is possible to observe species of Sardinian deer, fallow deer and wild birds that populate forests of centuries-old holm oaks and cork oaks.

The thousand-year history is also evident in the archaeological sites of Nughedu Santa Vittoria, where domus de janas, necropolis and protonuraghi alternate, and in smaller villages such as Bidonì or Sorradile, whose medieval structures and traces of ancient settlements dot the landscape, telling of millennia of human presence.