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Things to see in Nuoro

Every monument worth your time in Nuoro, photographed, described, and matched to its tours.

All the monuments in Nuoro

The landmarks and masterpieces worth planning a day around.

Sacred Spring of Su Tempiesu — Nuoro, Sardinia, ItalyFonte sacra Su TempiesuHidden GemSacred Spring of Su TempiesuBest-preserved Nuragic sacred spring, isodoma basalt masonry, 1953 rediscovery, bronze votive figurinesA landslide buried this Nuragic sacred spring sometime around the ninth century BC, and it lay forgotten until 1953, when workers doing water-vein maintenance broke into it by accident near Orune. What they found was the best-preserved sacred well of its kind on the island: a spring chamber built from precisely cut basalt blocks in true isodoma masonry, its double-pitched roof rising to about 1.8 meters, preceded by a vestibule and a smaller mirror-image spring beside it. Excavations in the 1950s and restoration campaigns in 1981-86 and 1998, led by archaeologist Maria Ausilia Fadda, recovered bronze swords, daggers, fibulae and votive figurines of bearded warriors and a shepherd, now displayed at Sassari's national archaeological museum. Fewer than five thousand people visit each year, keeping the site's silence intact.Plan the visit
The Nuoro guide

More within reach

Monuments a day trip away, elsewhere in Sardinia.

  1. The basalt central tower of Su Nuraxi, Sardinia's great Bronze Age fortressBaruminiUNESCOSu Nuraxi di BaruminiGreatest nuraghe complex, Bronze Age tower village, dry-stone corbelling, Giovanni Lilliu's excavation
  2. Granite islets and turquoise channels of the La Maddalena archipelagoLa MaddalenaLa Maddalena ArchipelagoSeven granite islands, Budelli's pink sand, Garibaldi's house on Caprera, clear Mediterranean waters
  3. Golden flowstone halls over still water in Neptune's GrottoAlgheroNeptune's GrottoStalactite halls by the sea, 654-step Escala del Cabirol, salt lake, boat arrival from Alghero
  4. The basalt streets of Tharros running into the Sinis seaTharrosTharrosPhoenician port, basalt main street, twin Corinthian columns, tophet, San Giovanni tower
  5. The cape of Nora with its tower and Roman ruins meeting the seaPulaNora Archaeological SitePhoenician-Roman town on a cape, seaside theatre, mosaic floors, Nora Stone findspot
  6. Funtana Coberta — Barumini, Sardinia, ItalyBaruminiHidden GemFuntana CobertaNuragic sacred well, twelve-step staircase, false dome, water worship
  7. Wind-carved granite coves at Capo Testa, Corsica beyond the straitSanta Teresa GalluraCapo TestaWind-sculpted granite, Valle della Luna, Roman quarries, lighthouse, Corsica across the strait
  8. Temple of Antas — Carloforte, Sardinia, ItalyCarloforteHidden GemTemple of AntasPunic-Roman temple, Augustan rebuild, Nuragic village and necropolis, remote valley setting
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