A hidden gem in Sardinia’s Barbagia region, Nuoro province, the small town of Mamoiada welcomes its visitors with great food, age-long traditions and important archaeological sites. In February, in Carnival time, they hold a 2000-year-old festival that will make the town a truly a fascinating stop in your Sardinia holiday.
Not far from the town of Orgosolo, known for its history of outlaws and the colourful street art that fills the walls of the whole city centre, Mamoiada is one of the top places to visit in Sardinia if you want to explore and delve deep into local traditions.
All around the town is the countryside dotted with ancient stone sites such as the ancient funerary monuments known as giants’ tombs (tombe dei giganti) and fairies’ houses (domus de janas) dating back some 4/5000 years BC. In the same countryside are also some menhirs, tall phallic-shaped stones that very likely marked a sacred area.
If you happen in Sardinia either on January 17th in the occasion of Saint Anthony festival or for the Carnival in February, you can witness the propitiatory ritual they have been doing for some 2000 years to welcome the harvest season. While in January the masks perform the ritual by dancing around bonfires scattered around the town, during Carnival they parade in the main streets all afternoon.
