Tappa 04 - da Gonnosfanadiga a Monti Mannu

DEPARTURE: Gonnosfanadiga 228 m (asl)

ARRIVAL: Montimannu 355 m (asl)

TECHNICAL DATA:

• Length: 27.40 km

• Difference in altitude: +777 m and –650 m

• Maximum gradient + 24.2%

• Minimum gradient -16.4%

• Highest Point Montimannu – Locanda del Parco 355 m above sea level

Possible detours to visit notable points:

COME AND GO FORD'E PIBERA

Length: 9.0 km

Start/end point (start of climb to Perd'e Pibera loc. Costa Perdu Cau): h: 214 m (asl)

Highest point (former mining village of Perd'e Pibera shortly after the director's building): h: 449 m (asl).



STAGE DESCRIPTION:

From the southern outskirts of Gonnosfanadiga, near the square in front of the Church of Santa Barbara, first take Via Linas and then turn left onto Via Piras. After about 350 m, you will arrive at the crossroads which, if you take the left, leads onto Via Circonvallazione. Continuing along this road, you will begin the climb towards 1* Perd'e Pibera and the proposed Vaie Vieni.



Staying on the route, take Via Circonvallazione which, turning north, goes up until it intersects Via Puccini, which you take by turning right, finally arriving at the intersection with the SS196 which you take by turning right.

We travel a short stretch of the main road of about 2.7 km and then return to the local farm roads.

On this dirt road which soon becomes asphalted, the route begins to climb towards the suggestive site, immersed in greenery, of the waterfalls and the spring of Sa Spendula and after a short while, continuing on the same road you enter the northern outskirts of Villacidro arriving initially at the panoramic point of Croce Seddanus (301 m above sea level).

From the panoramic point, the descent through the streets of the village begins, arriving at the Church of Santa Barbara and passing by the unique Art Nouveau public washhouse.

The structure of the famous Villacidro Washhouse, inaugurated in 1893, features a large Art Nouveau canopy supported by six cast iron columns adorned with flourishes and pine cones, a dozen basins with faucets and drainpipes, and a reservoir similar to those found in drinking troughs. In the past, housewives no longer had to go to the river to wash their clothes but could use this covered and sheltered public space, which became a meeting place and social gathering place.

Continuing south and taking Via G. Garibaldi, even beyond the town, past the small Piazza Launeddas, after the bend you come to a crossroads, which if taken to the right leads us onto the path that takes us to Montimannu.

Here the asphalt road initially descends and enters the Villacidro countryside until it crosses the road that, climbing, takes us to the barrier of the dam on the Rio Leni.

This asphalt road takes us from an altitude of 190 m above sea level to 254 m above sea level in just over 2.7 km and then continues at altitude alongside the entire development of the lake basin.

Once past the southern end of the basin, the road turns left and, after crossing the bridge over the Rio Leni, you come to a fork in the road where you must take the right towards the Canale Serci mine forestry complex.

Taking this road, initially asphalted and then dirt, you first arrive at the Forestry Corps headquarters near the former mine management building and after about 2.1 km you reach the entrance to the Posada di Montimannu where the stage ends.



COME AND GO FORD'E PIBERA

Just outside the town of Gonnosfanadiga, on the southern outskirts, the climb begins towards the Perd'e Pibera Park, which includes the restored buildings of the old mine.

With a climb of approximately 4.5 km with an average gradient of 5.4%, you reach the house of the director of the former Perd'e Pibera mine, the final part of the small mining village, immersed in the thick woods of the Park.

The Perd'e Pibera Mine (also known as Riu Planu is Castangias) in Gonnosfanadiga is known for the extraction of a rare mineral, molybdenite (MoS2), a molybdenum disulfide. This mineral, highly sought after by European iron and steel industries since 1790, is used in metal alloys and in the hardening of high-temperature steels, as well as in the production of electrodes and catalysts. When ground into an impalpable powder, it was transformed into a vital lubricant. Today, the mine has become the largest mine in the Medio Campidano area.

Among the various buildings redeveloped in the early 1990s was the church of Santa Barbara and the Washhouse. Currently, the complex is uninhabited and without any particular activity.

Once the tour of the small but significant mining system is finished, we descend towards the village and resume the stage from where we left off.