Siliqua

TOWN

C’è un filo sottile che attraversa millenni e tiene insieme il territorio.

Siliqua traces its roots back to the Neolithic period, when the first communities carved domus de janas into the rock and raised menhirs toward the sky. During the Bronze Age, the Nuragic civilisation flourished here, followed by the Carthaginians, who chose it as a strategic outpost against inland tribes.

With the Romans came roads, bridges, and the aqueduct that carried water from the Sulcis to Cagliari. In the Byzantine period, Siliqua continued to watch over the Cixerri valley. Then came the Middle Ages and the Castle of Acquafredda—a Pisan fortress dominating the landscape, contested by kingdoms and noble families.

In the centuries that followed, Siliqua experienced reforms, conflicts, and the end of feudalism. The 19th century brought both banditry and public works. The 20th century left its mark through two world wars, the Fascist period, and the only bombing raid in 1943. Then came renewal. Today, Siliqua preserves all of this: in its archaeological landscape, in the stones of the castle, and in the stories passed down through generations.

L’ambiente naturale

Siliqua has always lived in close connection with nature. As early as the 19th century, accounts describe dense forests, abundant wildlife, and waterways rich with eels and trout. At the centre of it all flows the Cixerri River, which for centuries has given life—and at times taken it away through devastating floods.

Following land reclamation works in the 1980s, the old river branch—s’arriu de s’areni—has become a preserved natural environment where ash trees, poplars, and willows provide habitat for freshwater turtles, herons, little egrets, kingfishers, and marsh harriers.

Around the village, valuable remnants of lowland forest still survive: the Serra Masì woodland with its majestic ash trees, holm oak and cork oak forests alternating with eucalyptus groves, where native vegetation is gradually reclaiming its space.

A journey through the landscape

From Siliqua begins a journey into the heart of the Sulcis region. It starts among the family vineyards of Is Bingias, then climbs toward the hills of San Giacomo, dotted with wild pear trees, ancient olive trees, and large lentisk shrubs.

Heading east, you reach Zinnigas, an area of vegetable gardens and citrus groves, known for its mineral spring and for the trails leading to the forests of Nanni Lai and Narbonis, all the way to Mount Orri. Further south, among gorges and streams, old manor houses mark the entrance to the realm of the Sardinian deer, where holm oak forests blend with the traces of ancient charcoal production sites. The route continues toward the vast forests of Monte Arcosu and Gutturu Mannu, the waterfalls of Su Spistiddadroxiu, and the granite peaks of Is Caravius and Lattias. The Cixerri plain opens up, dominated by the volcanic dome of Acquafredda, now a designated natural monument. You return to the village via the hill of Santa Margherita, passing the churches of San Giorgio and Sant’Anna, the restored Montegranatico, and the traditional lardiri houses—among the last surviving examples of Siliqua’s rural heritage.

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