The municipality of Ardauli, located in the historical region of Barigadu, in the province of Oristano, is immersed in an unspoiled territory, wild in parts, where the Mediterranean scrub predominates with cork oaks, holm oaks, cysts and mastic trees.
In the center of the town, among narrow alleys, stands the parish church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of the Good Way, built between 1620 and 1680. Other sacred buildings, of great interest, are: the Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, on the outskirts of the town, and the camprestri churches of St. Quirico and St. Anthony. Numerous houses built of trachyte, embellished with lintels carved in the Gothic-Aragonese style, are preserved in the urban fabric of Ardauli.
In the territory of Ardauli there are domus de janas underground tombs, the ‘fairy houses’ of folk tradition, better known in Ardauli as sos musuleos, ‘the mausoleums,’ typical of the Sardinian Neolithic, and numerous archaeological evidences related to human habitation in prehistoric times. The most important monument is the Painted Tomb of Mandras. The area around the hypogeum is rich in artifacts that testify to the main productive activities of our country, the palmenti – wine-making facilities dug into the rock (better known in Ardauli as Lacos de Catzigare) – and the pinnettos, the ancient stone constructions with tholos roofing, functional for the shelter of shepherds and farmers.
As for monumental evidence from the Nuragic period, one can still observe the ruins of the Monte Piscamu nuraghe that stands on a rocky outcrop, occupied today by the waters of Lake Omodeo.
