Tratalias, in lower Sulcis, rose around the year 1000 facing the Golf of Palmas and its period maximum splendour was during its time as an episcopal see in the Pisan and Spanish period. It maintained a leading role until the 19th century. The original village was abandoned in the 1980s, after the creation of the artificial lake of monte Pranu, when its seeping waters made the homes inaccessible. The new village was created a few hundred metres away.
The ‘ghost’ village, made of just a few renovated stone houses, was once enclosed by three ‘Baroque’ arches (two are still intact), which may have been entrances to the citadel. In the centre, the former Cathedral of Santa Maria di Monserrato, built between 1212 and 1282, is a gem of Romanesque art with architectural forms unique on the Island. Behind it, there are artisan workshops. In the church square there is the Casa Spagnola, which dates back to the 12th-13th century and was first renovated in the 17th century. Additional spaces, containing the museum of the Tratalias territory.
Inside the Monte Pranu Park natural oasis, whose itineraries are roads once used by shepherds and disused railways, there are a large number of archaeological sites: 11 nuraghi, 4 villages and 2 Tombs of Giants, out of a total of 40 Nuragic settlements in the Tratalias territory, inhabited since Neolithic times (as confirmed by the village of Tracasi). The main one is the nuraghe is Meurras complex, surrounded by a village and a Tomb of Giants. They were positioned to guard the territory, along with the nearby and impressive Carroccia, also with an annexed Tomb of Giants. At the top of a hill, there is the Sirimagus complex, while the best-preserved nuraghi are the monotower Cuccu and the Tratalias complex, with a central tower and three perimeter towers joined by curtain walls.
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