The columns by the sea of the Sinis peninsula
At the southern tip of the Sinis peninsula, west of Oristano, on a narrow strip of land between the open sea and the gulf, lie the ruins of Tharros, one of the most evocative archaeological sites in the Mediterranean. Founded by the Phoenicians in the eighth century BC near an earlier nuragic village, it became a flourishing Carthaginian and then Roman port, and was abandoned in the eleventh century, when its inhabitants moved to Oristano, taking with them, it is said, the stones of the city.
The site slopes down towards the sea, with streets paved with large basalt blocks, drainage channels, houses, shops, baths, a temple and the remains of the tophet, the Punic sanctuary. Its symbol is the pair of Corinthian columns, partly reconstructed, of a Roman temple, standing against the blue of the sea, an image that has become a symbol of the Sinis. On the hill of San Giovanni, above the site, stands a sixteenth century Spanish tower, the Torre di San Giovanni, with a splendid view over the ruins and the coast, and the necropolis, where precious Phoenician jewellery was found. In the nearby village of San Giovanni di Sinis is one of the oldest churches in Sardinia, built in the sixth century.
Tip: visit at sunset, when the light makes the columns glow; the beaches of the Sinis, such as San Giovanni and Is Arutas, are a short distance away.
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