Path Description
DEPARTURE: Pitzinurri 369 m (asl)
ARRIVAL: Gonnosfanadiga 227 m (asl)
TECHNICAL DATA FOR THE TRANSITION TO ARBUS:
- Length: 28.80 km
- Difference in altitude: +716 m and –858 m
- Maximum gradient + 13.0%
- Minimum gradient -16.2%
- Highest point: Genna Sciria Pass, 462 m above sea level
TECHNICAL DATA FOR THE TRANSFER TO GUSPINI:
- Length: 29.60 km
- Difference in altitude: +636 m and –778 m
- Maximum gradient + 11.7%
- Minimum gradient -16.1%
- Highest point Montevecchio Piazza Rolandi 373 m above sea level
Possible detours to visit notable points:
COME AND GO POOLS
Length: 15.62 km
Start/end point (junction for Piscinas Beach, exit from Ingurtosu): h: 258 m (asl)
Lowest point (beginning of the beach at Piscinas): h: 15 m (asl).
STAGE DESCRIPTION:
Taking the SP66 road downhill, you soon come across the steps leading to the church dedicated to Santa Barbara di Ingurtosu. Continuing along the road, you enter the mining village of Ingurtosu, still partially inhabited, and pass through the roadway surmounted by the covered passage of the “Castle” structure, the management building of the former Ingurtosu Mine, so called for the distinct Teutonic style of its architecture.
The elegant granite building was also the centre of cultural life for the notables of society, who, under the direction of Engineer Hoffmann, aspired to make Ingurtosu one of the most important mining centres in the world.
After passing the management building you come to a crossroads, which if you take the left takes you onto route 1* of the back and forth route that leads to Piscinas beach, while going straight on instead allows you to continue the stage.
Continuing on the stage, you begin to climb and travel along a dirt road full of mining remains that testify to the fervent past activity of this entire area.
Shortly after the climb, you descend towards the Casargiu well, then climb towards the Fais well, from which the sulphide-rich waters continue to flow, coloring the Rio Irvi a deep red from here onwards. Continuing, you come across the large Amsicora well until you reach the height of the Donegani dam and its basin.
Continuing along the dirt road, you pass the construction site and the Sanna Shaft, passing under the very particular reinforced concrete arch and arriving at the Sartori Hotel just outside the mining village of Montevecchio.
Before reaching Montevecchio, on the left side of the road you can see the Asuni construction site and the ruins of the sorters' dormitory (the women responsible for manually separating the mineral-rich stones from the sterile ones). On May 4, 1871, 11 workers, women and girls, tragically died when a water tank located above these rooms collapsed.
Finally, after passing Piazza dei Cervi you arrive at the mining village of Montevecchio, still partially inhabited where it is possible, by reservation, to visit the Management Building (still furnished with period furniture).
This remarkable building, designed and constructed by Giovanni Antonio Sanna between 1870 and 1877, was the beating heart of the Montevecchio mining operations and was intended to house the administrative offices, his residence, and a small church. Over the years, the building lost its residential function and was almost entirely converted into offices.
Built on a rectangular plan, the building features classical and neo-Renaissance styles. Behind the main entrance is a small church dedicated to Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners.
In the central square of the village, where the management building stands, there is also the hospital building across the road and taking the SP66 you begin to descend onto the path that runs alongside the entire mining area of Montevecchio di Levante.
PASSAGE TO ARBUS
After the first hairpin bend downhill on the SP4, you come across the crossroads for Arbus, which you take keeping right and beginning the climb that climbs up to the plateau, often lashed by the mistral wind, which is home to the ruins of the Righi Village.
From here the road continues to climb, arriving at Genna Sciria (462 m above sea level), the highest point of the stage, and once over the pass you begin to descend towards the northern outskirts of Arbus, which you reach after approximately 1.4 km.
After passing through the village of Arbus, where you can visit the church of San Sebastiano, the nearby Maritime Archaeological Museum, and the Knife Museum, the route continues southward, reaching a small industrial/craft area. From there, take the narrow road, partly paved and partly dirt, that turns right and descends towards the village of San Cosimo, in the municipality of Gonnosfanadiga, where you can see the Giants' Tomb of the same name.
The Giants' Tomb of San Cosimo is one of the largest megalithic structures on the island. It has yielded an artifact that may be the oldest Mycenaean import ever discovered at a Sardinian archaeological site. The area is home to a veritable archaeological park, which also includes another, smaller tomb of the same type and two nuraghes. Also known as sa grutta de santu Giuanni, built of granite and of imposing dimensions (it is thirty meters long and its exedra is 26 meters wide), the tomb was considered by Giovanni Lilliu to be the largest Giants' Tomb known to date.
Continuing along the route, you must cross the Terramaistus stream, and this is possible if the stream is low. In this case, take the dirt road that turns south, then cross the ford, and then continue, turning left and taking the asphalted farm roads.
If the river is in flood, you need to continue straight on and take the SP 04 for just over 1 km, then turn left and continue on the dirt road.
Continuing along the farm roads, you reach the village of Gonnosfanadiga. Here, at the beginning of Via Ugo Foscolo, you rejoin the route you took along the PASSAGGIO A GUSPINI, and you end the stage by crossing the village until you reach the church of Santa Barbara.
PASSAGE TO GUSPINI
Leaving the Montevecchio square, we descend along the SP66 – SP4 and take the hairpin bends that lead us near the entrance to the square of the former Piccalinna mining site, where a series of buildings, all with exposed stone walls and brick decorations, constitute what was once the operational core of this mining site: the San Giovanni shaft and the lamp room, the winch room, the compressor room and the electrical cabin, the Piccalinna washery, the offices and the forge.
From the mine clearing it is also possible to notice the ruins of the Principe Tommaso Washery and, just beyond, the Sartori Shaft with its characteristic water basins.
Leaving the mining gate, you take the provincial road again, which descends to the Sciria village and the nearby craft brewery. After a short while, you turn left to take the dirt road that was once the route of the former railway, towards Guspini.
Continue along this route until you reach the old post station no. 8, Stazione Nurraci, and from here take the dirt road that turns towards the town of Guspini, becoming Via A. Gramsci.
In Guspini you first arrive at the church of San Nicola di Mira and then proceed towards the geological site of the Basalti Colonnari.
The Columnar Basalts are an extremely rare geological formation consisting of a wall of vertical basalt prisms, twenty meters high, arranged in the shape of organ pipes. This site, located in the heart of Guspini, originates from a small volcanic cone whose lava, as it slowly and gradually cooled, created vertical column-shaped fissures, which delimit polygonal prisms. It is now a declared natural monument.
Following Via Spano first and then the entire length of Via Carbonia south, you reach the roundabout where, taking the third exit, you enter the SS194. Follow this road until you leave Guspini and reach the northern outskirts of Gonnosfanadiga. Just before arriving, take a left and then turn left and follow the final stretch of the SP4, reconnecting with the PASSAGGIO PER ARBUS, near Via Ugo Foscolo.
1* COME AND GO POOLS
With a descent of approximately 7.8 km and a climb of the same length with a 3.5% gradient, this long back-and-forth route takes us to encounter numerous elements of past mining activity.
After leaving the village of Ingurtosu, shortly after, on the left, you come across Pozzo Gal, named after Paul Gal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Penarroya, a French multinational that owned the Pertusola mines in Italy in the 1920s. The shaft, located in the Harold Shipyard, reaches a depth of approximately 200 meters and entered service in 1923. Pozzo Gal was designed for the underground mining of the blende minerals of the Brassey vein, which were treated in the nearby flotation washery, and was in use from 1926.
Today the mining site has been restored and converted into a multimedia museum of “mining memory” which can be visited by reservation.
At the end of the asphalt road you come across the ruins of Pozzo Lamberti and the remains of the mining village of Naracauli.
Shortly after, descending the dirt road, you can admire the imposing ruins of the Brassey Washery, which still demonstrate the architectural care given to industrial buildings from the early 1900s. Located in the abandoned village of Naracauli, it takes its name from the mine's owner, the Englishman Lord Thomas Allnutt Brassey, and began operation in the early 1900s. Designed primarily for the processing of blended materials, from which zinc is primarily extracted, the plant was served by several nearby shafts, from which the ore was transported to the washery via cable cars and narrow-gauge railways. The plant served to separate the mineralized particles from the quartz gangue and was for years one of the most important hydrogravimetric plants in Sardinia. Dismantled in the 1970s, it today represents one of the most evocative and significant icons of Sardinia's architectural mining heritage.
Continuing along the dirt road you reach the Piscinas beach car park near the Ara del Sole monument by the sculptor Pietro Casella.
Once you reach the beach, you have to take the road you took downhill and go back up to Ingurtosu to resume the route.
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