The St. Peter’s “garden,” owned by the Regina Margherita Rest Home, constitutes a vast green lung on the edge of the city and adjacent to the St. Peter in Silki complex. The area, bordered by a historic boundary wall and organized by means of dry-stone terracing, includes a vast olive grove, vegetable gardens, vineyards, citrus groves and some centuries-old myrtles mentioned by A. La Marmora in the 19th century. Sixteenth-century sources already mention hortos amoenissimos at the convent. Within the property there is also the “house of the Duke of Asinara” (late 18th-19th century), in a state of ruins but at least partly recoverable, and a vast irrigation system consisting of canals, basins, springs dug into the rock, with masonry additions. This is an articulated water complex, of great scope and exceptional historical interest, used to the present day but certainly of ancient construction, perhaps with pre-existences related to the Roman aqueduct and the later medieval monastic system. Recent archaeological investigations have also revealed, at the southern end of the area, the presence of substantial remains of Roman and medieval settlements, the latter probably referable to the village of Silki, known from documentary sources from the early 12th century until the early 14th century. Of considerable historical-environmental value are the Viale dei Lecci, the Dragonara del Duca, the spring of Villa Silki, the Madonnina oratory and the House of the Duke of Asinara.
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