Armungia is a municipality of about 400 inhabitants located within the province of South Sardinia. Specifically, it is located in the Gerrei subregion, 366 meters above sea level. The small town of Gerrei is located on a plateau characterized by forests, Mediterranean scrubland, and cultivated fields. Armungia faces toward the valley of the Flumendosa, the second longest river in Sardinia and the one with the greatest water flow.
Armungia is a village that has maintained over time the architectural features of the typical Sardinian agro-pastoral village. A true diffuse museum, with a historic center among the few to have developed around a nuraghe, and with numerous monuments that can be visited, such as the ethnographic museum “Sa Domu de Is Ainas,” the Blacksmith’s Workshop and the House of Emilio Lussu, a famous anti-fascist and statesman of the 20th century.
In the center of Armungia lies the nuraghe, in a dominant position near the old town hall. Its good state of preservation and contemporary location within a built-up area make it perhaps a unique case. The tholos, of considerable size, rests on a stone base that serves as a platform and still stands for a residual height of 10 meters. Just past the entrance, on either side of the short corridor leading to the cella, are two guard rooms carved into the thickness of the walls. The cell forms a large room more than 5 meters in diameter and has two niches placed opposite each other. At a height of about three meters there is an opening from which a staircase, carved inside the walls, leads to the top of the tower. This access was probably reached by a retractable wooden ladder or rope and certainly had defensive purposes. In fact, it allowed the defenders to oppose, from a dominant position, a possible irruption of enemies inside the nuraghe and, at the same time, to reach and maintain control of the upper part of the fortification. It is in fact the top of the tower that represents the most militarily functional part of the entire monument.
Source: Municipality of Armungia
