Monte d'Accoddi

Visited at the opening, when there is still no one there or at sunset or on desolate days, uncertain between wind and rain, it conveys a strange sensation of eternity and waiting...

Monte d'Accoddi, halfway between Sassari and Porto Torres, is an ancient sanctuary (4th millennium BC) built by pre-Nuragic peoples in a slightly elevated position. Until the last century it appeared as an isolated hill on which stones, even large ones, emerged. The excavations that began immediately after World War II and intensified in the 1980s brought to light a truncated stepped pyramid about ten meters high which housed a smaller and older structure inside. The temple must have been located on the esplanade at the top of the pyramid, a wood and masonry construction, connected to the ground via a ramp over 40 m long. The function of the sanctuary had to be to connect the earth and the sky, men and divinities and also to promote the fertility of the earth, of the animals and of the population itself. In fact, next to the ramp, a large sacrificial slab with animal remains and various artefacts were found on the right; on the left there is a 4.5 m menhir; on the back there are the remains of a village (among which the so-called House of the Sorcerer stands out), indicating that the sanctuary must have played a role of considerable religious importance for the entire vast surrounding area.