Nuraghe Mereu

The people of Orgosolo call Nuraghe Mereu by a name that says everything: the nuraghe inside the woods. At 835 metres on the Supramonte of Orgosolo, its towers rise from Montes forest, looking towards the Gorropu gorge.

Why it matters

Nuraghe Mereu stands inside the Montes forest, on a rocky spur of the Supramonte of Orgosolo at 835 metres, above the Gorropu gorge. What survives is remarkable for dry-stone building of any age. The main tower still carries its tholos roof, a corbelled dome about five metres high, and the western bastion stands with it. The local name, nuraghe intro ’e padente (“the nuraghe inside the woods”), reflects its setting.

What to notice

The plan is complex and trilobed: a central keep with two secondary towers joined by curtain walls, all raised in limestone blocks taken from the rock of the spur itself. The original entrance faces south and opens into a corridor that can still be walked in part; on the left, a stairwell climbs towards the vanished terrace. One secondary tower has partly collapsed and the third is in ruins; the keep retains its tholos roof. West of the fortress lie the low remains of village huts, and several Giants' tombs are hidden in the surrounding wood, attributed to the same settlement. About 800 metres north-east stands Nuraghe Presethu Tortu, a single white-limestone tower about six metres high.

Context and history

The monument belongs to the Nuragic world of tower-builders that shaped Sardinia from the Bronze Age onwards. Setting is part of the meaning. The Montes forest is a vast holm-oak wood; the sas Baddes sector covers roughly a thousand hectares, with holm oaks reaching about twenty-five metres. The towers look north-east over the walls of the Gorropu gorge and south across the Supramonte plateaus of Orgosolo and Urzulei.