All Rights reserved by scratchMapSardinia.com
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.
21 - TERME DI
FORDONGIANUS
Fordongianus, a small town of about 1000 inhabitants in the province of Oristano, was the main Roman city of the island's hinterland.
It preserves prehistoric testimonies such as the domus de janas of Domigheddas and Gularis and other testimonies of the Nuragic age such as the sites of Paranu Antoni and Putzola.
Here Forum Traiani was built, a city that was the seat of a large market where the exchanges between the Romanized populations of the coast and the communities of the inland areas took place. In the first century an important Roman thermal baths (Aquae Ypsitanae) was built, the main archaeological attraction of the area.
The structure consisted of two establishments. The first, built in the first century, exploited the water that still gushes out today at 54°C, and that was collected by means of a 3.5 m thick concrete wall, which also served as an embankment for the flooding of the Tirso river. In the first establishment there was a large swimming pool (Natatio), 13 metres long, 6.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The north and south sides of the building were porticoed. To the north of the main pool there were 3 smaller quadrangular pools, and to the east there was a rectangular building with niches on the long sides, one of which was dedicated to the Nymphs of Servato, water gods.
The second building was built on a rectangular area of 30 by 12 metres. Built in the 3rd century, it was the dressing room of the baths. It also contained four pools, in which waters with different temperatures were contained (frigidarium, tepidarium and calidarium). The water heating of the second establishment was artificial.
In the second establishment you can admire some remains of floor mosaic in the dressing room (Apodyterium). The ceiling was made of blue glass paste to create a suggestive play of colours with the reflections of the water from the pools.
The connection between the two factories was ensured by a staircase that overlooked the portico of the Natatio.
In the spa area were found two statues of the god Bes, god of health cults.
The area of Fordongianus is also known for the presence of red, green and grey trachyte quarries, a material that characterizes the buildings of the village and of the whole historical Sardinian region of Barigadu, of which Fordongianus is part.
Among the examples of local trachyte buildings there is the Aragonese House, built at the end of 1500, a rare example of Sardinian late Gothic architecture, with decorations in Aragonese and Catalan Gothic style that embellish the windows, the entrance and the interior doors.
Fordongianus boasts a number of attractions, including:
- Church of St. Peter the Apostle;
- Church of San Lussorio;
- Roman Amphitheatre;
- Sa Domu 'e Sa Senora.
For info and reservations: forumtraiani
- tel: 078360157 - info@forumtraiani.it
