The Marmilla

Discover the Marmilla with our excursion ...

The Marmilla is the geographical region of Sardinia situated between the Giara of Gesturi and the Campidano, belonging to the provinces of Oristano (High Marmilla) and Medio-Campidano (Low Marmilla).

The word Marmilla comes from the latin "Mamilla", that’s to say "breast", for the round hills that characterize this mainly plain territory.

This region has several natural beauties. Among them, the "Giara di Gesturi" (Sa Jara Manna), a basalt tableland that is famous for the presence of the wild horses, belonging to a species maybe imported by the Phoenicians, characterized by a short stature. There are also the paùli, small lakes of freshwater, rich of plant and animal biodiversity, that dry during the hot season.

The mountain of the Marmilla territory is the Monte Arci massif. It’s a volcanic mountain covered with Mediterranean shrub land woods among which we have holly oaks, cork oaks, strawberry trees, mastic, erica, euphorbia, brooms.

The highest point is the "Trebina Longa", a rock tower formed by lava, that has slowly solidified inside the volcanic cone. With the passing of time, for the erosion, it’s now visible together with the two other "trebine": the "Trebina Lada" and "Su Corongiu de Sizoa".

In ancient times, the Monte Arci had an important role for the presence of the so-called "black gold" that’s to say Obsidian. It’s a translucent volcanic glass, mainly black in color, that formed for the quick cooling of lava.

The presence of several deposits led, during the Neolithic, to the development of points for the collection, the transformation and the distribution of this material. Obsidian was then used to create tools as blades, arrow and spear tips, cutting instruments, that were exported to all the island, the Italian peninsula and the southern France.