We will leave at 11:30 a.m. from the heart of Arzachena, in Piazza Risorgimento, and in a few minutes’ walk we will reach the small square on Via Parini where our young guides will begin to tell us the very ancient history of the identity symbol of the ancient town of Arzachena, where we will go immediately afterwards, via a granite staircase placed at the edge of the small square and adhering to the majestic natural monument.
Called Lu Monti Incappiddhatu in the Gallurese language, the Mushroom Rock is the symbol of the town.
It is the most emblematic example among the tafoni. Since the Tertiary era, water, sun and wind have shaped the granite to its unusual shape. The ancient Neolithic people (around 3500 B.C.) immediately saw an ideal shelter in that huge boulder … with the hat. With the other huts that sprung up little by little on the plateau below, a small village was formed that was also inhabited in the Bronze Age and up to (probably) Roman times, so much so that it received, in an ancient street directory, the Roman name of Turibulum Minus.
Ceramic fragments, lithic tools, leftover meals, remnants of milk processing, wool spinning and plant fibers, as well as signs of waste dating from those periods, were found in a nearby crevasse.
The visit will end at about 12:30 p.m.
