Halfway up the ridge of Mount St. Bartholomew, between Fort St. Ignatius and the Lighthouse of St. Elijah, among the military structures of World War II, two environments stand out as archaeologist E. Atzeni aferms “for the enigmatic presence of certain craft and artistic value.”
Compartment A, open to the pathway
The room was originally divided into two rooms, measuring m.1.79 x 2.96 and 6.35 x 2.96 respectively, by a partition with an off-center opening. The floor, in an excellent state of preservation, is all executed in grit, as are the steps that connect with the corridor on which the second room opens, B. In the smaller room a band of black grit (h cm.21) squares the central part in red grit; in the larger room, within this same band, the red grit field is bordered by a frame with rounded corners (m.3.98 x 2.35), formed by a row of white marble tiles (cm.2 x 2). The center of the floor is underlined by a motif (m. 1.60 x 0.87) designed by tiles of the same type as the previous ones and consisting of lozenge in green grit with inscribed circle in grit of a darker red than that of the surrounding field. Opposed to the vertices of the lozenge are, alternately, two dark red grit pelts with curled ends and two short filiform tessellated appendages with enlarged ends. The walls, at the base, retain obvious traces of red paint and other, minimal, yellow and light blue paint. As is evident from the description, the floor is consistent with the masonry and certainly modern.
Compartment B, accessible from the corridor
It, too, has a grit floor, in some places quite ruined, which, as far as can be seen, was, however, devoid of decoration.
This compartment was also divided in two by a partition.
