Human intervention, with indiscriminate cutting, intensive grazing and fires, has risked compromising the balance, but after being taken away from private owners in 1903 and managed by state government, which started its recovery, it is now among the most florid natural sites in southern Sardinia. Is Cannoneris, a hikers' paradise and a place of mysterious tales of reality mixed with fantasy, extends for approximately 4800 hectares in the territory of Domus de Maria, Pula, Teulada and Villa San Pietro. Its surface area is doubled when including the forest of Pixinamanna, to which it is connected. It is also on the border of Gutturu Mannu, the oasis of Pantaleo and mount Nieddu, green areas that are part of the proposal to create a Sulcis nature park.

The green expanse disappears into the horizon: forests of holm oaks, Mediterranean scrub and conifers, the vegetation is very lush everywhere you look. You can move through it via a main road and sign-posted trekking trails. The forest is a protected wildlife oasis: after becoming state property again, it was repopulated with Corsican red deer and fallow deer that inhabit the area, along with wild boar, weasels, dormice and foxes. When you look up you might be surprised to see the flight of the golden eagle, the common raven, the peregrine falcon and the kestrel.

The maximum height is 979 metres, at the top of Punta Sebera, which dominates a large part of the gulf of Cagliari and the southwestern coast as far as Portoscuso, as well as the surrounding forests. The attractive nature and landscape is endless: evocative rock formations can be found in the central-northern part, particularly the sheer rock faces of Calamixi, a wild and legendary place, set between centuries-old trees and steep cliffs, populated - according to popular belief - by bandits, witches and hidden treasure. In Is Concas de S'Arrideli, on the border of Mount Nieddu, huge Mount Etna Broom plants flower. The abundance of bodies of water crossing the forest will strike you: Mitza su Filisargiu, the Isca de Crapitta rivulet, Sa Truba and Sa Para, Su Pizianti and the canals of Medau Angiu and Su Marigosu. The whole territory is enhanced by evidence of Pre-Nuragic and Nuragic civilizations: the necropolis of Montessu, the Tomb of the Giants of Barrancu Mannu and the holy well of Val Tattino.