Trekking tour to Monte Tiscali and the Lanaitho Valley

Would you like to come with us from Orosei AdvenTours to discover the secrets of the Lanaitho Valley and the mythological nuragic village of Tiscali?

For the trek to Tiscali and the Lanaitho Valley, you can start either from the town of Dorgali or from the town of Oliena. The meeting points for the excursion are in Orosei in Piazza del Popopo, in Dorgali at the AGIP petrol station Puddu or in Oliena at the car park of the Fonti di Su Gologone.

The Lanaitho valley is in the municipality of Oliena and is one of the few access gates to the Supramonte from the north-western side. A precious treasure chest of biodiversity, extremely interesting archaeology and anthropology. It is a place that should be visited and explored to learn more about Nuragic culture and a fundamental part of Sardinian archaeology.

The starting point for the 4×4 excursion to the Lanaitho Valley and Monte Tiscali is the Su Gologone car park. We jump aboard our Defender 4×4 vehicles and drive along the beautiful dirt road into the valley to discover its ancient archaeological mysteries.

The first natural wonder to reveal itself to our eyes along the way is one of Sardinia’s natural monuments, the beautiful columnar basalts carved out by the Cedrino River. This is the marvellous setting for the artificial lake Cedrino, which can also be visited with a kayak tour. Before continuing our walk towards the village of Tiscali, a short 4X4 nature tour is a must, along the wonderful dirt roads that take us into the Lanaitho Valley.

Nuragic Village of Tiscali

We finally begin our trek to discover the Nuragic Village of Tiscali, an unmissable opportunity to discover the mysteries kept in this magical place for more than 3000 years.

The path slowly climbs up the steep cliffs of Mount Tiscali along paths traced by charcoal burners in the 19th century. One of the most exciting moments of the trek to Tiscali is the passage through the rocky cleft called “Sa Curtigia”. From above, we reach the surprising karstic sinkhole, which originated 900,000 years ago and holds the secrets of the mysterious settlement. The Nuragic village of Tiscali was built between 1800 and 900 B.C., during the Nuragic era, then used until the Roman domination of Sardinia. The microclimate created over the years inside the sinkhole has allowed the development of numerous rare botanical species such as the Terebinth and the Trilobium Maple. Among the fauna that can be encountered along the way we can find a friendly marten, who is always looking for food, but also mouflons, which like to spend the night inside this natural refuge.

 

Visit of the valley of Doloverre

At the end of the visit of the sinkhole, which lasts about 30 minutes, enough to discover the secrets of the mysterious village, we continue our visit of the valley of Doloverre until we reach our car again. On board our 4×4 we can then continue our 4×4 tour to visit the Lanaitho valley, where we can find other interesting places of archaeological and anthropological interest that help us to better understand the history of Barbagia. One of these is the Corbeddu cave, where the oldest remains of Homo sapiens ever found on a Mediterranean island were discovered, dating back some 18,000 years. Along the remains of Homo sapiens, fossil remains of Prolagus sardus and the ancestor of the modern deer, Megaloceros cazioti, both now extinct, were also found.

The Corbeddu cave

The cave is named after the bandit Giovanni Corbeddu, who built his refuge here during his period of absconding between 1880 and 1898. Giovanni Salis Corbeddu, also known as the ‘Eagle of the Mountain’, was considered super partes and so he set up a sort of ‘tribunal’ inside his refuge, where suspects were judged on the basis of certain evidence of their guilt.

Also worth visiting is the late Nuragic village of Sa Sedda ‘e Sos Carros.  Here the ancient Nuragic people celebrated the cult of water in the Bronze Age. It is a beautiful spring-sanctuary built around 3000 years ago, unique of its kind in the Mediterranean. The peculiarity of the sacred spring are the nine mouflon heads carved on limestone from which the water gushed out, in turn collected in a circular basin surrounded by stone seats, probably functional to the magic rituals that were celebrated there.

Visit to the karstic spring of Su Gologone

The day is not over yet, the last stop is a visit to the karstic spring of Su Gologone. The spring is the main source of the Supramonte karst system and the largest karst spring in Sardinia, which was declared a Natural Monument by the Region of Sardinia in 1998. The water rises from the subsoil, flowing from a crack in the rock to form a small lake of crystal-clear waters set between high dolomite walls and whose colours vary from emerald-green to turquoise. The lake is also an irresistible challenge for cave divers from all over the world. The exploration record was set in 2010 by Alberto Cavedon, who reached a depth of 135 metres.

Before returning, we recommend a stop at the bar of the Su Gologone springs to enjoy a good Ichnusa beer.

If you would like to visit these beautiful places, please contact me at the following addresses:

E-mail: info@oroseiadventours.com

Website: www.oroseiadventours.com

Mobile phone: +39 3441202654

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