Path Description
DEPARTURE: Pitzinurri 369 m (asl)
ARRIVAL: Gonnosfanadiga 227 m (asl)
TECHNICAL DATA — ARBUS SECTION:
- Length: 28.80 km
- Elevation gain/loss: +716 m and –858 m
- Maximum incline: +13.0%
- Minimum incline: -16.2%
- Highest point: Genna Sciria Pass 462 m asl
TECHNICAL DATA — GUSPINI SECTION:
- Length: 29.60 km
- Elevation gain/loss: +636 m and –778 m
- Maximum incline: +11.7%
- Minimum incline: -16.1%
- Highest point: Montevecchio Piazza Rolandi 373 m asl
Possible detours to visit points of interest:
OUT-AND-BACK PISCINAS
Length: 15.62 km
Start/end point (Junction for Spiaggia di Piscinas, exit from Ingurtosu): h: 258 m (asl)
Lowest point (start of Piscinas Beach shoreline): h: 15 m (asl).
STAGE DESCRIPTION:
Descending along the SP66 road, you soon come across the staircase leading to the church dedicated to Santa Barbara of Ingurtosu. Continuing on, you enter the mining village of Ingurtosu, which is still partially inhabited, and then pass beneath the road overpass topped by the covered passageway of the “Castle”, the former Ingurtosu Mine directorate building so nicknamed for its distinctly Teutonic architectural style.
The elegant granite structure also served as a cultural hub for the society’s leading figures, which, under the management of Engineer Hoffmann, aimed to make Ingurtosu one of the world’s most important mining centers.
After the director's house, you reach a crossroads: turning left leads to route 1* of the out-and-back trail towards Piscinas Beach, while continuing straight ahead keeps you on the main stage.
Continuing along the main stage, the route climbs a dirt track rich in mining installations that bear witness to this area’s vibrant past.
Shortly after the climb, the route descends toward the Casargiu shaft, then ascends to the Fais shaft, from which sulfide-rich waters continue to flow, coloring the Irvi stream a deep red from this point onward. Continuing along, you pass the large Amsicora shaft before climbing towards the Donegani dam and reservoir.
Proceeding on the dirt road, you pass the Sanna shaft and construction site, pass beneath a distinctive reinforced concrete arch, and arrive at the Sartori Hotel just outside the mining hamlet of Montevecchio.
Before reaching Montevecchio, on the left side of the road you can see the Asuni construction site and the ruins of the ore-sorting women’s dormitory. Here, on May 4, 1871, 11 female workers—women and girls—tragically lost their lives when a water tank above the building collapsed.
After passing Piazza dei Cervi, you arrive at the Montevecchio mining hamlet, still partly inhabited, where you can book a guided tour of the Director's House (still furnished with period pieces).
This fine building, designed and constructed at the behest of Giovanni Antonio Sanna between 1870 and 1877, was the beating heart of Montevecchio's mining complex and was intended to house administrative offices, Sanna’s private residence, and a small church. Over time, the building ceased to be used as a residence and was almost entirely converted for office use.
Built on a rectangular plan, the building is characterized by classical and neo-Renaissance forms. Behind the main entrance stands a small church dedicated to Santa Barbara, patron saint of miners.
In the hamlet's central square, where the Director’s House stands, you can also find the old hospital. Taking the SP66 from here, the route descends alongside the east side of the Montevecchio mining facilities.
ARBUS SECTION
After the first downhill hairpin on the SP4, you'll come to the fork for Arbus. Take the right-hand path and ascend to the plateau—often swept by the mistral wind—where you’ll find the ruins of Villaggio Righi.
From here, the road continues uphill to Genna Sciria (462 m asl), the highest point of the stage. After the pass, the route descends to the northern outskirts of Arbus, arriving after about 1.4 km.
Upon entering Arbus, you can visit the church of San Sebastiano, the nearby Archaeological Museum of the Sea, and the Knife Museum. Continuing on, the stage heads downhill toward the southern area, reaching the small industrial/craft district. Here, take the lane—partly paved, partly dirt—which, keeping to the right, leads down to San Cosimo in the Gonnosfanadiga municipality, where you can see the namesake Giants’ Tomb.
The Giants’ Tomb of San Cosimo is one of the island's largest megalithic structures and has yielded an artifact that may be the oldest Mycenaean import found at an archaeological site in Sardinia. The area is an archaeological park that also includes another, smaller tomb of the same type and two nuraghi. Also known as sa grutta de santu Giuanni, the tomb is built in granite and is enormous (thirty meters long, with an exedra 26 meters wide). Giovanni Lilliu considered it, up to that point, the largest Giants’ Tomb known.
As you continue along the route, you’ll need to cross the Terramaistus stream; this is only possible if water levels are low. If so, take the dirt road that heads south and ford the stream, then turn left to continue along the paved farm roads.
If the stream is in flood, continue straight ahead instead and join SP04, follow it for a little over 1 km, and then turn left to rejoin the dirt road route.
Continuing on the farm roads, you’ll reach Gonnosfanadiga; at the start of Via Ugo Foscolo you'll rejoin the route taken through the GUSPINI SECTION, then complete the stage by crossing the town to the church of Santa Barbara.
GUSPINI SECTION
Leaving the Montevecchio square, follow the SP66 – SP4 downhill and navigate the bends to reach the entrance of the former Piccalinna mining site. Here, a series of stone-faced and brick-trimmed buildings make up what was once the operational core of the mining complex: the San Giovanni shaft and lamp room, the hoist house, compressor room, electrical substation, Piccalinna washery, offices, and the forge.
From the mine yard, you can also see the ruins of the Laveria Principe Tommaso and, a little further along, the Sartori shaft with its distinctive water basins.
Leaving the mining area gate, rejoin the provincial road, which descends to Villaggio Sciria and the nearby craft brewery. Not far after, turn left onto the dirt path that follows the old railway route towards Guspini.
Follow this path until you reach the former post station no. 8, Nurraci station. From here, take the dirt road heading toward Guspini, which becomes Via A. Gramsci.
In Guspini, you'll first arrive at the church of San Nicola di Mira, then continue to the geological site of the Columnar Basalts.
The Columnar Basalts are a unique geological formation, consisting of a wall of twenty-meter-high vertical basalt prisms, fitting together like organ pipes. Located in the heart of Guspini, this site derives from a small volcanic cone whose lava, cooling slowly and gradually, created vertical fissures shaped like columns with polygonal cross-sections. Today, it is declared a natural monument.
Following Via Spano and then all of Via Carbonia south, you'll reach a roundabout; take the third exit to join the SS194, which you follow out of Guspini to the northern outskirts of Gonnosfanadiga. Just before arriving, turn left, then left again, onto the final stretch of SP4, reconnecting with the ARBUS SECTION at Via Ugo Foscolo.
1* OUT-AND-BACK PISCINAS
With a descent of about 7.8 km and an equal ascent at an average gradient of 3.5%, this long out-and-back route passes many remnants of past mining activity.
After leaving Ingurtosu, you’ll soon find Pozzo Gal on the left. Named after Paul Gal, president of the board of Penarroya—the French multinational that owned Pertusola’s mines in Italy during the 1920s—the shaft at the Harold site is about 200 m deep and started operations in 1923. Pozzo Gal was built for underground extraction of the Brassey lode’s sphalerite ores, processed at the nearby washery using flotation, and was in use from 1926.
Today, the mining complex has been restored and converted into the multimedia “Mining Memory” museum, which can be visited by appointment.
At the end of the paved road lie the ruins of Pozzo Lamberti and the remains of the Naracauli mining village.
A short way down the dirt road, you'll see the imposing ruins of the Laveria Brassey, which still showcases the architectural attention given to early 20th-century industrial buildings. Located in the abandoned village of Naracauli, it was named after the mine’s owner, the Englishman Lord Thomas Allnutt Brassey, and began operation in the early 1900s. Mainly dedicated to processing sphalerite-containing materials—primarily for zinc extraction—the facility was served by various nearby shafts, with ore delivered to the washery via cableways and narrow-gauge railways. The plant was used to separate mineralized from quartz gangue ore and for years was among Sardinia’s leading gravity plants. Dismantled in the 1970s, it remains one of the most evocative and significant icons of Sardinian mining heritage.
Continuing along the dirt road brings you to the Piscinas beach parking lot, near the Ara del Sole monument by sculptor Pietro Casella.
Once at the beach, retrace your steps back uphill to Ingurtosu to rejoin the original route.
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