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Discovering
the Island
Main Attractions Edition
35 - TORRE
DELL'ELEFANTE
Cagliari is the largest city on the island, boasting about 150,000 inhabitants, and is geographically located in the center of the Mediterranean. Its position is not accidental, dominating the wide gulf of South Sardinia, it must have been a place of great commercial exchanges by sea already in the pre-Nuragic era.
In the city are recognizable archaeological and paleontological evidence dating back to different eras:
- The Neolithic with the Domus de Janas San Bartolomeo, the houses of Santa Gilla, the caves of Sant'Elia;
- The Neolithic with Molentargius and Monte Urpinu;
- The Culture of Monteclaro;
- The culture of Bunnannaro;
- The Bronze Age with Tuvixeddu and the hill of San Michele.
The historical urban connotations still recall well documented periods and historical evidence dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries when the Pisans built the districts of Castello, Marina, Villanova and Stampace. It is precisely to the Pisan domination that we owe the construction of the two most important towers of Cagliari, that of "San Pancrazio" (36 m.) and that of "Elefante" (31 m.). For their construction, calcareous lithic material from the deposits of the hill of Bonaria was used. Both designed by the Sardinian architect Giovanni Capula, and considered for years among the best military works in Europe, were part of the system of
city defense for the Genoese and later Arab incursions. In the course of history, their use passed from defence purposes to housing, from a place of torture to powder rooms and armouries, from detention centres to the more recent purposes of tourist use.
Of the two, the more intact and more refined and that of the Elephant, in fact in that of San Pancrazio is missing all the upper part because of the damage suffered by the British bombardment, Spanish
and Frenchmen in the 1700s.
Cagliari boasts a whole series of attractions including:
- The natural park of Molentargius;
- The salt pans;
- Poetto, the other beaches and the Sella del Diavolo;
- The archaeological areas of Sant'Eulalia and Viale Trieste;
- The archaeological park of Tuvixeddu;
- The Roman Amphitheatre;
- The castle and the gallery of San Michele;
- The Masonic house;
- The Botanical Garden;
- The archaeological museum;
- The parks of San Vincenzo, Monteclaro and Terramaini.
