San Vito

The territory of San Vito, a small town in Southeastern Sardinia, has been inhabited since ancient times. This area is indeed rich in prehistoric sites, especially from the pre-Nuragic and Nuragic periods.

In San Priamo, part of the municipality of San Vito, there is a sanctuary dating back to the thirteenth century located on the top of the homonymous mountain; in this area human presence is attested since Late Neolithic (4300-4000 BC) by the presence of a domus de janas, inside which a spring flows. This is connected to the ancient cult of the waters and to which tradition attributes miraculous powers. At the foot of the church of San Priamo there is a tomb of the giants and the Asoru Nuraghe, with a central keep tower to which in the following period a three-lobed bastion was added.

In the area of Sa Conserva (or Nurasci), scholars have identified traces of a settlement dating back to the Late Neolithic (4000-3300 BC), related to the Culture of Ozieri, with obsidian and ceramic finds.

The Genna Mesa nuraghe and the Pranu Narbonis necropolis are also very relevant prehistoric sites; the necropolis consists of a group of three domus de janas carved into the rock, dating back to the second half of the fourth millennium BC, and also used by the people of the Bell Beaker Culture and the Bonnannaro Culture.

Traces of the Punic and Roman phases also remain in the territory.

In the Middle-Ages it became part of the Judicate of Cagliari and later of the Gallura one.

 

featured photo: nuraghe Asoru

ph.credits: Zioriki, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons