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Discovering
the Island
Main Attractions Edition
The first scratch map of Sardinia, you will discover 40 attractions of the Island. Each of them will make you know more local elements.
14 - S. ANTIOCO DI
BISARCIO
Ozieri is still today the most important centre of Logudoro, not only in terms of population density (over 10,000 inhabitants) but also in terms of history and culture. In fact, it is well known and we refer to pre-nuragic times its affirmation on the territory, when in the IV millennium B.C. a flourishing epoch came to life, which took the name of Culture of Ozieri. This period is also known as the Culture of San Michele, with reference to the first discoveries made in the cave of San Michele, which can still be visited and located in the upper part of the town. With the first discoveries (year 1914) up to the last studies carried out, the social and economic impressiveness of the culture on the whole Sardinia and in some cases even beyond the sea has been noted.
The geographical position of the town has allowed to maintain over time a significant importance, passing from the Nuragic period (only in the municipality there are about 125 Nuraghi surveyed), to the Punic-Roman to the Medieval one.
Ozieri dominates a large and fertile plain on which one of the most important Basilicas of Sardinia has been settled for centuries: Sant'Antioco di Bisarcio.
The Church of Sant'Antioco di Bisarcio is one of the best examples of Pisan Romanesque architecture in Sardinia. Cathedral of the homonymous diocese from the XI to the XVI century, built entirely in local stone, it had three different construction phases. The first cathedral was damaged by fire. In the twelfth century began the reconstruction work with the construction of the hall with three naves marked by arches on columns, the apse and the bell tower. At the beginning of the 13th century the two-storey portico was built against the first façade. A staircase inside the portico allows access to the upper rooms. In the cathedral area there are substantial ruins of the rectory, the episcope and the medieval village of Guisarchum. Around the Basilica excavations have been undertaken which have brought to light an ancient village probably dating back to the Nuragic era.
The territory of Ozieri boasts a whole series of attractions.
SAN MICHELE CAVE (Ozieri)
The Cave of San Michele, discovered by chance in 1914, is a symbol of Sardinian archaeology for the discovery, inside it, of finds belonging to the Recent Neolithic period, which took the name of Culture of San Michele or Ozieri. The artifacts are preserved in the Archaeological Museum "Alle Clarisse" and in the national museums of the island.
The Cave had sepulchral functions and the sacredness of the site lasted until the Christian age, when a church dedicated to St. Michael, now disappeared, was erected on the site.
Currently viable for 56 m, the Grotta San Michele has a total length of about 160 m.
The site has undergone important changes with respect to its original appearance; during the war period it was adapted as an air-raid shelter and partly demolished in the middle of the 20th century.
CARMEL CAVE (Ozieri)
Small in size (about 50 meters), it was used in prehistoric times: inside it were found finds from the Ozieri Culture and the Roman period. The current entrance to the cave is the remains of a partially destroyed cavity. The initial part is reduced to a sort of channel between the rocks, in the middle of which there are large collapsed boulders.
PONT'EZZU (San Nicola district)
The Roman bridge was built in the Imperial Age. 89 metres long, 4.30 wide, with six arches, it was built along the route that connected Olbia to Cagliari, and it is one of the 3 bridges that allowed the crossing of Rio Mannu.
Used until a few decades ago, over time it has undergone many interventions that have modified, in part, the original structure; still today it is one of the largest and best preserved Roman bridges in Sardinia. It is flanked by an important village, Sa Mandra 'e Sa Jua, used from the Nuragic to the Roman.
In 1987, given the serious state of abandonment of the area, the WWF Section of Ozieri proposed to the Municipality a project for the restoration and enhancement of the area, also because of the rich presence of flora and fauna.
The Department of Environmental Defence of the Region of Sardinia considered this project the best presented on the occasion of the European Year for the Environment and awarded it with funding.
SA MANDRA 'E SA JUA (St. Nicholas Quarter)
The archaeological complex "Sa Mandra de sa Jua" (oxen enclosure), was frequented continuously until the Middle Ages. The site consists of the nuraghe and the surrounding village of circular and rectangular huts. Built with trachyte ashlars, the nuraghe has a central tower with an architraved entrance preceded by steps, to which two side towers each enclose two rooms. The three towers were joined by a courtyard which was accessed by a staircase, on either side of which a hearth was found on the right and a millstone on the left. The large central tower had a domed vault and a large staircase with six steps leading to the upper floor.
GRIXONI FOUNTAIN (Ozieri)
The original source was built in 1594 by the will of Don Giovanni di Castelvì, governor of the states of Oliva. In the back of the current fountain are preserved the original coats of arms, together with the plaque that recalls the first realization. In 1881 the nobleman Don Giuseppe Grixoni financed the restoration of the fountain and entrusted the project to Giovanni Pietrasanta, who created the current fountain in white marble that has become the symbol of Ozieri.
CIVICAL ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM (Ozieri)
The Museum is located in the former Convent of the Poor Clares. Inaugurated in 1754, in the 1800s it became a place of pilgrimage, due to the presence of a nun, believed to be in the odour of sanctity. Required as a result of the Rattazzi Law, since 1889 it housed the soldiers who installed the Pietro Micca barracks there. The restored building is now the seat of the Archaeological Museum. The exhibition is divided into five sections: from prehistory to the modern age.
The first part is dedicated to the prehistory of the territory.
The second room preserves nuragic artefacts of particular importance, a model of nuraghe, lead weights, an "ox-hide" ingot and the bronze of a boxer.
The historical section is dedicated to Punic and Roman finds: milestones, stelae and finds from necropolis and places of worship.
You can observe medieval and renaissance lithic finds, and bronze and ceramic materials from the High Middle Ages to the Modern Age.
The last part consists of donations made by the heirs of eminent citizens of Ozieri and includes portraits, photographs, period objects and historical documentation.
Upstairs there is a section dedicated to numismatics, with coins from the Greek colonial age to the Savoy period.
BORGIA JAIL (Ozieri)
Belonged to the Castle of Court, incorporated in 1600 in the Borgia Palace, the prisons were completed in 1769. The rooms are made up of the penalty cell, the female cell and the male cells. A narrow courtyard leads to the isolation cell.
MUSEUM OF MOLITORY ART (Sos Ortos region)
This is the first museum of milling and bakery art in Sardinia. It preserves a wide selection of tools for grinding grain: from the ancient Nuragic millstones to the Roman asinine grinding wheel, in use until the early 20th century. There is also a botanical section with an exhibition of different qualities of wheat.
HORSE MUSEUM (Ozieri)
In 1997 the museum collection "Men and horses in memory" was inaugurated. The Horse Museum consists of two sections: a historical one with documents, coats of arms and photographic plates of the stallions and an artistic collection of posters, paintings and statues dedicated to the horse, including the centaur of Francesco Ciusa.
DIOCESAN MUSEUM OF SACRED ART (Ozieri)
The building that houses the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art, belonged to the Borgia family, dukes of Gandìa, who donated it to the Jesuits in 1690 to establish popular schools in Ozieri. It then became the seat of the Seminary and today a museum.
The route of the Museum is divided into eight rooms arranged according to an ideal historical, liturgical and devotional itinerary in which culture, art and documentation recount a journey of faith over almost a millennium.
The Diocesan Museum houses two works by the painter known as the Master of Ozieri (16th century): the retable of Our Lady of Loreto, and the Descent from the Cross.
PROMETHEUS (Ozieri)
In the seventies Aligi Sassu, an important artist of the twentieth century, wanted to honor his local origins, giving the city a great fresco. The protagonist of the work is Prometheus, the titan god of Greek mythology who had defended the interests of men against Zeus, teaching mankind the art of civilized living.
For Aligi Sassu, Prometheus is the promoter of Sardinian civilization in ancient times. The painting is a reconstruction of Sardinian historical events, and local in particular.
In addition to the Mother Goddess, nuragic idols and ceramics of the Ozieri Culture are depicted, important characters from Ozieri such as Leonardo Tola, Francesco Ignazio Mannu, Gavino Cocco, Matteo Maria Madao and Salvatore Saba.
The fresco, compromised by the bad weather, has been replaced, at the will of the artist, by a mosaic of glass tesserae that guarantees its durability.
Further attractions in the territory of Ozieri:
MONUMENTAL CEMETERY;
TOWN PICTURE GALLERY "G. ALTANA";
CHURCH OF "NOSTRA SIGNORA DEL ROSARIO";
COSTI PALACE;
CHURCH OF "SAN FRANCESCO";
CULTURAL CENTER "SAN FRANCESCO";
ANCIENT OVEN;
ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM "LA TAVERNA DELL’AQUILA";
Visite guidate e servizi: Istituzione San Michele
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Tel: 079787638
