Visiting Nuraghic Archaeological Sites near Arzachena, Sardinia, Italy

On our trip to Sardinia, we spent an afternoon near the town of Arzachena visiting three archeological sites from the Nuraghic civilization, the civilization/culture that existed on Sardinia from roughly the 18th century BC to 238 BC when Sardinia was colonized by the Romans. While there are seven sites located close to Arzachena within easy driving distance of each other, we only visited three of them – the Malchittu Temple, the Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb, and La Prisogiona Nuraghe. Visiting these three sites took most of the afternoon, in part because the first site we visited, the Malchittu Temple requires a roughly a 2km (4 km round trip) hike to see it. Visiting these sites made for an interesting afternoon, perfect for a cloudy, misty, cool, not-great-for-the-beach, day.

Detail Summary
What:Visiting Three Nuraghic Archaeological Sites – the Malchittu Temple, the Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb, and La Prisogiona Nuraghe
Arzachena, Sardinia, Italy
Car:Parking was available in lots near each of the sites.

We used google maps to get directions. Although initially we followed the directions to a fourth site – Moru Giant’s Tomb. When we got there, there was a sign saying google directions are wrong. The site is located there but you need to go 200 m further down the road to get to the parking lot and ticket office. We did that and found the ticket office there for the Malchittu Temple, which is where we started our tour.
What:We did a self-guided tour
Cost 2022:Entrance fees were by how many sites you visited. Ticket offices are located by each site.
Example Adult Prices – 4 Euro for 1 site, 10 Euro for 3 sites.
Info:Arzachena Archaeological Park
The Malchittu Temple
The Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb
La Prisogiona Nuraghe

The Tour

We did a self-guided tour of three of the seven sites. We had a rental car while in Sardinia as was recommended to us by the hotel because “public transportation is limited and taxis are expensive.” There are several companies that offer guided tours and transportation to these archeological sites but as we didn’t use any of them, I can’t make a recommendation.

We used google maps to get directions to the sites. Initially, we followed the directions to a fourth site – Moru Giant’s Tomb. When we got there, there was a sign saying google directions are wrong and to go 200 m further down the road. We did that and found the ticket office there for the Malchittu Temple.

At the ticket office, we decided to take the salesperson’s recommendation and purchase a ticket to see three of the seven sites, the Malchittu Temple, where we were, plus what she said were the two most famous and interesting sites – the Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb and La Prisogiona Nuraghe.

The Malchittu Temple

The first site we visited was the Malchittu Temple. Visiting the temple requires roughly a 2 km (4 km round trip) hike to see it. I was happy about this as I had wanted to get out a bit to see the landscape away from the road. After purchasing our tickets, we headed out on the trail.

The trail was a fairly easy hike on a sandy surface. It was interesting to see the rock formations and the shrubby vegetation.

Just before reaching the temple, there was an information sign in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, saying the temple was used between 1600 BC and 900 BC. Then, after a final scramble up the rocks, we were at the temple itself.

After checking out the view from the temple, we hiked back down.

We said ciao to the cows, and we were off to the next site.

The Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb

After a short 10 minutes drive, we were at the Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb, a communal grave site for the Nurahgic people. Unlike the temple we visited, this site was just a short walk from the parking lot. According to Wikipedia there are around 800 of these Giant’s Graves located all over Sardinia. The Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb is one of the largest.

After leaving the Code Veccju Giant’s Tomb, we hopped in the car and headed to our next site.

La Prisogiona Nuraghe

The next site was only a two minute drive away. There is a path and I think we could have walked to it, but I did not see it while I was there. La Prisogiona Nuraghe is a nuraghe (megalithic building) and a village comprised of around 90-100 buildings that were occupied from the 14th until the 9th century B.C There are paths allowing you to wander about the structures and information signs talking about the purposes of the buildings (pottery making, bread baking, etc.).

You can also go inside the main building.

All three sites were interesting and we enjoyed our afternoon visiting them.

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