Almost four thousand hectares of forest, with a heart of holm oaks and cork trees, where the Sardinian deer roams undisturbed, the symbol of the island's wildlife. The Monte Arcosu reserve is located in the larger park Gutturu Mannu (great gorge), inside an area of mountains and forests, including the territory of Assemini, Capoterra, Siliqua and Uta, a few dozen kilometres from Cagliari. For a long time, it was private game reserve, impoverished by poachers, and the area began to flourish again after the purchase and establishment by the WWF in 1985 of the largest protected area in Italy. The reserve is dominated by a mountain shaped like an arch, hence the name Arcosu, and crossed by two main valleys, which are long and narrow with steep slopes, where the Guttureddu and sa Canna rivulets flow and converge at the entrance of the reserve, forming the Santa Lucia rivulet a few kilometres further on.