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Sardegna

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Vivere la campagna

On Hercules’s top

Mount Arcuentu

  • Locality: Montevecchio, Monte Arcuentu (Guspini-Arbus)
  • Route type: excursion on foot
  • Point of departure: path CAI 192, at about 300 m from the inhabited centre of Montevecchio, in the direction of the sea
  • Travelling time: 4 hours (outward journey)
  • Difficulty level: medium
 

The amazing view encompassing the mountains of Villacidro up to the Gulf of Oristano will repay walkers for their efforts.
The route starts in the mining area of Montevecchio; a four-hours walk will take you to one of the most beautiful tops of the territory: Monte Arcuentu, an ancient (now spent) volcano, describing the profile of a sleeping man – someone says it recalls Napoleon’s figure. The top of Mount Arcuentu, also known as ‘Erculentu’ (as, according to a legend, it was Hercules’s mountain) shows the vestiges of an ancient medieval castle. It is also a place of pilgrimage and spiritual retreat.

Along the route, vegetation varies and a low maquis, formed by lentisks and brooms, stretches next to pastures. At the foothills of steep rocks, the way continues inside sheer basaltic gorges, passing through environments that can boast a rich natural and human history. Finally, an ancient thicket reveals the ruins of a few old structures, small huts and a votive altar, confirming the momentous past of these places.