The tuff wall in Bonorva shows the direct result of centuries of carving work.
At Sant'Andrea Priu, the volcanic rock becomes the exact mold of Neolithic dwellings. Chisel in hand, the ancient builders sculpted the interiors, reproducing down to the smallest detail every element of the homes of the era, from double-pitched roofs to relief beams, circular hearths, and seats carved directly into the stone.
The extension of the chambers reaches exceptional dimensions for Sardinian hypogea, culminating in the famous Chief's Tomb, a dense underground network composed of over twenty-five communicating rooms. During the Byzantine era, this main environment underwent a radical conversion into a rock church, receiving layers of plaster and articulated mural painting cycles. The figures of saints and evangelical scenes painted in the Middle Ages adhere directly to the niches and sacred symbols sculpted three thousand years earlier.
Dominated on the surface by an imposing boulder shaped like a bull, the necropolis represents a truly extraordinary case of spatial persistence. In this unique place, the very same rock cavity changed its intended use multiple times over the millennia, transitioning from a prehistoric cemetery to a Christian place of prayer without ever losing its centrality.
