THE MUNICIPALITY OF CAPOTERRA

To reach Capoterra take the first leg of state road 195, westward of Cagliari. In the first portion, the feeling is that of travelling on water because, once the port of Cagliari has been left behind, the road stretches along a long strip of land separating the sea from the Santa Gilla lagoon.

An impressive road – for its vast panoramas of sea and sky and the imposing bastions of the Sulcis mountains in the background. In your rear-view mirror a view of Cagliari, its skyline etched with the churches and towers built on its hills.

Capoterra, a small town with a long farming and pastoral tradition, is accessed by a 5 km long spur road running off from 195, at the end of the lagoon. The town is situated on a flat plain at the foot of the rocky hills of Monte Arbu (194 m) and M. Arrubiu (352 m), the gateways to the wonderful natural heritage of the area, whose paths are favourites for horseback trips.

A large part of the territory of Capoterra is included in the Sulcis Park and the splendid natural oasis of Is Cannoneris (715 m), today a Reserve managed by the Sardinian Forestry Authority (Ente Foreste della Sardegna), has always been famous for the quality of its myrtle berries and boletus mushrooms; it is home to large colonies of deer and fallow deer and to the golden eagle.

To the north of the town runs a road (37.7 km), tarmacked only in its first section, which ends at Santadi offering a series of tourist itineraries: at 5 km is the small country Church of S. Lucia; at 1 km to the right is the branch road leading to the WWF reserve for Sardinian deer of Monte Arcosu (the largest of its type in Europe); at km 8 on the left is the road leading to the great plants – closed down in 1963 – of the San Leone iron ore mine, the largest ore bed in Sardinia. The road runs through the splendid isolated valley of Gutturu Mannu, cut in the rock by the river.

Again from the Capoterra-Santadi road branches a cart track reaching to the peaks of Punta Sebera – 979 m, Punta Is Cannoneris - 715 m and Punta Maxia - 1017 m, heart of the vast uninhabited south western massif. The Sulcis Park and the Linas-Marganai Park of the Sardinian Forestry Authority preserve this vast territory, of prime importance for its landscape, animal and plant life, caves, cliffs, archaeological sites and fossils.

The variety of minerals to be found in the Capoterra area (ilvaite, fluorite, calcite, galena, quartz, magnetite, hematite and also uranium flakes) is the prologue to the geological complexity of south western Sardinia, home to some of the most ancient rocks in Italy.

In the town is the Gothic parish Church of S. Efisio but the most interesting structure is the older Church of S. Barbara, built in the early decades of the 13th century on the heights of Poggio dei Pini.

The area boasts numerous ruins of Nuraghi but Capoterra (until 1000 still known as Caput Terrae) flourished above all in Roman times. The coast of Capoterra is bordered by Maddalena Spiaggia, a beach with bathing and tourist services, also offering a series of summer events and shows.