Tiscali was built inside a cone-shaped dolina formed inside “mount Tiscali”, which is situated in the centre of the Supramonte. Originally the dolina had been a cave, but consequent to constant agitation of the earth’s top layer, the top fell through and became covered by vegetation. The entire Supramonte massif is made up of limestone rocks with organic origins which date from 160 - 180 million years ago (Jurassic).

The Karst phenomenon which over the course of millions of years, is responsible for the sight which confronts us. An unending array of gorges, cliffs and caves.

On their arrival inside the dolina, the people who built the village will obviously have found the same conditions as we find today.

Man’s presence in Tiscali has to be compared with that of the Lanaittu valley below. In fact, after about 10 excavations inside the Corbeddu cave, we can specify that Lanaittu had been host to various cultures from 12-14,000 years ago up until today, but in Tiscali it is very difficult to give such a precise date to the period in which the village was built and inhabited, because of the fact that no official digs have been carried out. Only half way through the 1930’s brought the arrival of the first archeologists, Taramelli a little before Haig (1910). Their visits basically involved very quick inspections, a census of the huts and a collection of ceramics of “Nuragic and Roman” origins. The most likely assumption is that the people living in the Lanaittu valley who, because of conflicts with neighbouring populations, but more probably because of the Roman arrival, abandoned their homes in the valley and took refuge inside the mountain.

It remains a little difficult for us to believe that a site like Tiscali was inhabited continuously in time for 3 important reasons:

1) It’s almost impossible to find natural springs in calcareous soil and rock, which would have permitted the daily supply of water. These people will have had to preserve their water daily, which came from the walls of the dolina, building little cisterns to keep it for when it was really needed - in the summer.

2) It is almost impossible, to cultivate on these mountains and very difficult to rear animals.

3) If these people had escaped from an enemy they would have avoided leaving signs of their presence.

Bearing these things in mind, however, “Tiscali” still remains to a certain extent a mystery.

Two groups of huts make up the village. The first group shoulders the north near the entrance and includes about 40 huts, some of which are of a circular design, but most of them are a rectangular-square design. The walls were built with just one uneven row of stones which were held together with a muddy mixture – peculiar to Sardinia. The huts give the impression of being very rushed and fragile constructions. The entrances were wide with wooden “terebinto” architraves. The roofing was made from vegetable fibre (Juniper trunks and branches).

The second group lie to the south-west of the dolina and include more than 20 huts, all of which are of a rectangular design, slightly smaller in size than those of the first group. It is hard to believe that they represented shelter for a family unit. It seems more likely that they were used as stores for supplies or shelter for domestic animals. Like the first group, the roofing was also made from vegetable fibre.

It’s worth noting that inside the dolina there is a small wood full of “secular” plants representing all kinds of Mediterranean vegetation of which there are exceptional examples of “terebinto”, oak, “Phillyrea”, “Mastic”, fig., Maple and ash trees.

Month

Opening times

Genuary-February-March-April-November-Dicember

09:00 -  17:00

May-June-July-August-September-October

09:00 -  19:00

Ticket: Full price 5.00 euro, Cheap price 2.50 euro.