Monte Claro Park derives its name from the Latin “mons clarus,” probably because of the geological nature, in white limestone, of the hill of the same name on which it is located. Managed by the Province of Cagliari, it is rightfully among the main urban parks of the city, due to its importance in terms of area (about 25 hectares) and usability for citizens and visitors.
The hill is part of the so-called “system of city hills” of which Monte Urpinu Park and San Michele Park, Tuvumannu Hill and Tuvixeddu Hill are also part.
In the Monte Claro Park there is space for all those recreational, playful, educational and sports activities designed to meet the needs of citizens. From the main entrance on Via Cadello, consisting of the monumental cast-iron gate, architecture desired by the director of the former asylum, one enters a perpendicular avenue of holm oaks, announced on the left and right sides by the famous sound stones of Sardinian artist Pinuccio Sciola. The avenue skirts on the right side an artificial pond crossed by numerous anatids, mostly mallard and mute ducks, and connected by a series of small wooden bridges. Continuing along the straight road we encounter the “logo fountain,” from the symbol of the park shown in the grass wall that forms the background of the fountain: it reproduces the decoration with parallel grooves and ribs of a bowl found in the funerary hypogeum unearthed in 1905, when archaeological excavation campaigns began on the hill.
From the analysis of the numerous funerary objects found, characterized by a specific typological and morphological connotation – the situlae and jars, together with the other ceramic finds are on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari, Arsenale Square – it was discovered that the area of the hill was frequented from the Copper Age, the Eneoligic (2700-2200 BC) and gave rise to the so-called “Monte Claro culture.”
On the top of the hill is located the Villa Clara.
