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Its foundations tell a story, which is older than what you see at first glance, made of legends, abandonments and the ‘secular’ reuse of it. The Church of San Leonardo is the oldest place of worship in Masullas, a municipality in the Alta Marmilla area, in a scenic position at the foot of Monte Arci. There are no documents attesting to the building and consecration of the church, but its construction features have led to the theory that it dates back to around the mid-13th century. During a recent renovation phase, the foundations of a pre-existing place of worship, perhaps from the Byzantine era, were discovered. The current building was constructed on top of the previous one, respecting its structure and orientation: a longitudinal layout, with a single nave and a semicircular apse facing north-east. Sandstone and trachyte blocks were used for its construction. You can see them on the façade, decorated with small false loggias, where a mullioned window and a large bell gable stand out, as well as the entrance portal – along the same axis – with a monolithic architrave and a relieving arch.

The church hall has a wooden roof, capitals with plant decorations on the south wall and the image of a face carved into the centring of a single-lancet window in the apse. You will feel like you are in an intimate and cosy environment, also thanks to the simplicity of the furnishings. According to local tradition, the church contains the tombs of two martyrs, one of whom is Saint Callixtus, a pontiff in the first decades of the 3rd century. The origin of this legend lies in the fact that the church was part of the possessions of the then flourishing Vallombrosian Abbey of Thamis, the ruins of which are now located in the territory of Uras. The monastic order was in close contact with the German abbey of Fulda, to which the martyr’s remains, or at least part of them, were apparently transferred. Thanks to the cult of relics venerated by the Vallombrosian monks and the close relationship between the two abbeys, Saint Callixtus's remains finally reached the church, where some say that two sarcophagi were embedded in the walls. The church then went through a phase of abandonment and use as a monte granatico (wheat bank), after which it underwent initial restoration work in 1859.

The journey from the Middle Ages in Masullas to the Savoy period continues with a visit to the nearby museum of ‘I CavalierI delle Colline’ (Knights of the Hills), with an exhibition that focuses on the rural aristocracy of the ancient curatoria (administrative division) of Parte Montis, which the village of Masullas belonged to. Also not to be missed is the GeoMuseo located inside the former Capuchin convent. Among the fossils, agates, crystals and volcanic rocks, the ‘black gold’ of Monte Arci stands out, which was traded as early as the Neolithic period: in fact, the Conca ‘e Cannas obsidian park, the largest deposit cultivated in the Nuragic era, falls within the territory of Masullas. The surroundings lend themselves to fascinating excursions in nature: you can walk through the Taraxi forest and admire the rock face of su Columbariu, the pillow (underwater lava outcrop) of su Carongiu de Fanari and sa Perda Sperrada, a mass of rock almost perfectly split in half.

The starting point is curiosity: observing them, listening to them, mothers and grandmothers carefully choosing the ingredients, showing off their skills and performing almost ritual gestures, while patiently explaining the various steps in just a few words. Then comes the passion, the tenacity, the desire to experiment, starting by repeating what was learned and adding just the right amount of imagination. Sardinian traditional cuisine, with its distinctive local qualities providing unique sensations and flavours, takes on a new character in the third millennium: that given by the new generation of brave and talented chefs.

Magnificent natural settings and scenery of incredible charm, but what really makes the Maddalena Archipelago unique is that each of its islands has its own air, its own atmosphere. There is the delicate one to look at from afar, the most intimate one where you can feel a bit like a hero, the scintillating one to be experienced day and night, the craggy ones where history and the waves have been heavy-handed, and the Caribbean ones, envied by the whole world. Even if some of the islands are very small and uninhabited, they seduce like no other place and these small lands contain all the "charisma and symptomatic mystery" inherited from their mother Sardinia. Just like her, they too have been inhabited since the dawn of time. When history first began, the ‘obsidian way’ passed through here and, until the decline of the Roman Empire, also the granite of Gallura. They were abandoned for a long time. Monks arrived in the Middle Ages, later joined, little by little, by families of Corsican shepherds and fishermen from Ponza, starting a new story of men and women with the sea in their hearts, who made the community that had settled at La Maddalena great, always defending and never violating the islands of the archipelago, which reached us with the mysterious purity of places that have barely been touched.

Intense, with a strong, fragrant and harmonious character. Vermentino embodies the distinctive features of nature and of the identity of Sardinia. When you think about Vermentino, the vineyards on the granite hillsides of Gallura, caressed by the sea breeze, or perhaps the green rows that adorn the rolling landscapes across the rest of the island come to mind. Everywhere, on the land that comes from granite weathering and on the chalky and clay-rich soils, Vermentino is synonymous with full-bodied, elegant wines, with an unmistakable straw yellow colour and a hint of green.

A very ancient nuraghe, ‘from the very beginning’, with unique shapes, and a prehistoric village with a station where obsidian was processed along with a ‘garden’ of great environmental value around it. These are the elements that characterise the park of sa Fogaia, inviting you to visit it. It is a green oasis that covers the eastern slope of the Giara di Siddi, just over a kilometre away from the beautiful village of Marmilla. The ‘upper’part of the park is the scenic area, where you will have a view of the Marmilla hills and the Giare of Gesturi and Serri, as far as the view of the Gennargentu massif. In a strategic position, on the edge of a precipice, you will find the corridor-type nuraghe of sa Fogaia. It was built over 300 metres above sea level on the rocky outcrop, using dry and overlapping interlocking blocks of basalt.

The building shows traces of various construction phases: the nucleus is represented by the ‘protonuraghe’, i.e. the archaic version of the famous construction, with an unusual ‘Y-shape’ layout. It is thought that its origin dates back to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age and, later on, two other megalithic bodies were added alongside it, as well and a series of secondary spaces. To enter, you can go up a stepped ramp carved into the thickness of the wall: the entrance is in fact raised five metres above the walking surface. In the inner corridor, you will notice more steps, which once led to a terrace that is no longer there. Parts of the roof of the two adjoining buildings have survived and were made in different styles: jack arch, tholos (false dome) and ogival. In several rectangular rooms in the internal courtyard, there have been finds dating back to the Late Punic and Roman periods. Around the nuraghe, you will notice traces of a village where obsidian was found, proof that there was a stone workshop in sa Fogaia dedicated to working on the ‘black gold’ from Monte Arci.

The archaeological theme is not the park’s only element of charm: living in the holm oak woods and Mediterranean scrub, there are more than 150 different plant species as well as a wealth of wildlife. You can stroll surrounded by the colours and scents of wild orchids and numerous aromatic and medicinal plants. One path in particular, known as su mori ‘e is erbas (the path of herbs), which was once an old mule track used over the centuries by the community of Siddi, will accompany you as you observe the most typical floral species of Marmilla, described on special wooden signposts. Among the park’s ‘residents’, there are about 60 types of bird, such as the barn owl, the owl, the raven, the kestrel and the lapwing; you might also spot weasels, hares, foxes and various species of reptile.

Continuing in the northwesterly direction, you can enter the Giara di Siddi, in which there is one of the largest and best-preserved Tombs of Giants in Sardinia: sa Dom’e s’Orku that, just like the nuraghe Sa Fogaia, was built using large blocks of basalt between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages.

One of the oldest and largest green lungs of Cagliari is home to a variety of picturesque local characters and historically significant buildings. Mount Urpinu park spreads out over 22 hectares on its eponymous hill between the Molentargius-Saline natural park and the Bonaria hills. It owes its name to a now-extinct colony of foxes that populated it until a few centuries ago, when it was still covered in wild vegetation. In fact, Urpinu means “little fox” in Campidanese. Monte Urpinu was also the site of some small military forts until it was bought by the aristocratic Sanjust family. The new owners first had it reforested, planting numerous Aleppo pines, and then restored a small church, now known as the Aragonese Church, originally built between the 17^th and 18^th centuries over the remains of a small Byzantine sanctuary.

In 1939, Monte Urpinu became the permanent property of the City of Cagliari. It was soon turned into an urban park, although the side that looks out over the Molentargius swamp remained at the disposal of the Italian air force, who constructed a base and some underground fuel storage tanks there. Another area of the hill was used as a limestone quarry. In 2007, the military abandoned its base, and several decades before that the park underwent a further reforestation project.

It is now one of the favourite outdoor leisure spots of local residents. Here you can walk along a series of paths or go for a good run. There is also exercise machinery and a popular tennis club. Families take their children to the park to enjoy the spacious equipped playground. Picnics can be organised in the shade of trees and next to some artificial lakes. There are even two hectares dedicated entirely to dogs. And speaking of animals, the local fauna is also one of the park’s attractions. There are swans, moorhens, mallards, geese, tree frogs, turtles and colourful peacocks. The park is also home to a colony of cats. Equally interesting is the flora: in addition to the pines, you will spot willow trees, oleanders, junipers, and holm oak, mastic and olive trees.

The eastern flank of the hill has a panoramic road from which you can enjoy gorgeous views on both sides: from the Belvedere you’ll see the spectacular Golfo degli Angeli (Gulf of Angels), spot the Sella del Diavolo (Devil’s Saddle), Molentargius and its salt flats, and the Poetto beach. On the other side, looking west, you’ll see San Michele hill, crowned with its medieval castle, the historical districts of Villanova, Castello and Marina, the harbour and the Stagno di Cagliari (Cagliari Pond).

The walls embrace a large garden where nature, history, culture and wellness reign. Monte Claro park sits on the summit of the eponymous hill, in the centre of Cagliari, a short distance from another of the seven hills on which the capital was built, San Michele hill. This park spreads out over 25 hectares delineated by walls that once encircled an old psychiatric hospital. In the late 19^th century, the Province of Cagliari rented the area to house the unwell, and over time it became the pavilions of the hospital. All around were orchards, vineyards and crop fields where sometimes even the patients worked. The hospital was shut down in 1998 and the entire area was repurposed as a city park, opening in 2001. The main building, Villa Clara, where the hospital’s director once lived, is now the metropolitan library.

When you enter from the main gate, you’ll walk over a road lined by oak trees, alongside which are some of the stone “sound” sculptures done by the artist Pinuccio Sciola. If you rub one with your hand or a small stone, it makes pleasant sounds. The road winds past a picturesque pond home to water turtles, swans, geese and ducks. As you continue, you’ll come across the ‘fontana logo’, a pond equipped with technology that stages a fantastic series of jets of water. The symbol of the park is next to it: a stylised twig. The logo echoes a decoration from a bowl found in a tomb discovered in 1905. Monte Claro is, in fact, an archaeologically important area: the culture of Monte Claro gets its name from the traces of a pre-Nuragic settlement discovered here. The park is also home to the remains of a building that may have been used as a sacred well and, not far away, a mysterious 4^th century BCE tomb where various amphora and the bones of a couple, buried in an embrace, were found. The mystery thickens, as this was the only Punic Age tomb discovered on the hill from an era when the vast, nearby necropolis of Tuvixeddu was still in use.

Aside from the historical and archaeological aspects, Monte Claro will surprise you for the richness of the vegetation that thrives here: carob, mastic, oleander, olive, pine, oak and willow trees, as well as mulberries, roses and hibiscus bushes. The tropical garden is home to such aromatic plants as laurel, myrtle and rosemary. The park is an ideal place for a nice jog or walk. Sports fields have also been laid out here, especially for soccer and five-a-side football, and there is a skating rink. There are even two areas set aside especially for dogs. Monte Claro is also a venue, especially in summer, for shows, concerts and a variety of cultural events.

Buttes, aiguilles and rocky peaks are the silent witnesses of a geological era during which they incorporated fossils, schists, limestone and dolomite rocks from the Cambrian period. They burst powerfully into the Sardinian landscapes and are so full of energy accumulated over hundreds of millions of years that they were already perceived and considered places of worship in the Nuragic age, a sentiment resulting from the cosmic occurrences considered divine and supernatural. Much of that magical aura and that transcendental solitude will reach you as you walk the paths that lead to their feet. Here are some of them - destinations for unusual excursions.

White and dazzling in the sun, ethereal and suspended in time, Sardinia’s lunar landscapes seem straight out of a storybook. To remind us that we are on Earth, there are a few details that strike you here and there: amazing wild flowers, the shadow of the golden eagle flying overhead, the bleating of the flocks of sheep in the distance and the scent of helichrysum. They are often found in environments that are challenging to explore. You need to be fit and accompanied by guides to get to the less accessible areas of Gennargentu, on Monte Corrasi, between Nuoro and Oliena and on Monte Albo, between Lula and Siniscola, and at sa Giuntura, along the canyon of Gorropu.

In Sardinia, and even more in Ogliastra, one of the five international blue zones, the number of people aged over ninety and in good health and good mental and physical shape is decidedly higher than average in the rest of the world. It isn’t just a question of genetic make-up. Other things that come into play are genuine food, made like it was in the past, the natural environment, the cultural and social context and the value of shared, handed-down 'memories’ of the past.