The Nora Archaeological Site, Area Archeologica di Nora, Pula, Sardinia Finding out that there was a Roman site to visit near the Sardinian city of Cagliari was quite exciting. Finding out that it was next to the sea made it even better – having visited a number of sites along the Turkish coast, I figured that I’d be in for…
National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia When planning my trip to Cagliari, the first thing I knew I really needed to do was visit the Archaeology Museum. It would have been necessary anyway, but what made it sound particularly interesting was the fact that the museum had objects from an ancient native Sardinian culture. But…
Church of St Eulalia, Chiesa di Sant’ Eulalia, Cagliari, Sardinia Surprisingly, there isn’t much to the Church of St Eulalia. Its origins go back to 1365, when the Catalan-Aragonese dedicated it to Barcelona’s patron saint. The building underwent many changes over the centuries, and then in the 1990s the floor was torn up because they had a damp problem. In…
Museum of the Treasury of St Eulalia, Museo del Tesoro Sant’Eulalia, Cagliari, Sardinia One of the most interesting things about visiting Cagliari, for me, was the fact that a lot of the precious objects created for churches are still in, or very close to, those churches. This made visiting their associated museums quite fascinating, in that you are getting to…
Archaeological Area, Area archeologica, Cagliari, Sardinia The St Eulalia complex in the medieval district of Marina in Cagliari, is a curiosity. There is a church round the back and there is a treasury upstairs from the archaeology site. The whole complex is referred to as MUTSEU. The archaeological area of St Eulalia doesn’t just date from one period – it spans…
MUTSEU, Cagliari, Sardinia Sometimes, museums over-complicate things in the way they name themselves. Take this MUTSEU, for example. The grand acronym implies a complex of sites which are drawn together under a simple title. But no. MUTSEU consists only of two elements in the same building – the archaeological site beneath the Church of St Eulalia, and the church’s Treasury.…
Museum of the Sanctuary of Bonaria On the floor above the cloisters is the sanctuary’s museum. It basically consists of a hoard of model ships, donated as ex-votos in thanks for surviving some sea-related horror. They date from the 18th century onwards, and show all sorts of different ship types – some of them made from curious materials. There are…
Sanctuary and Basilica of Bonaria, Santuario e Basilica di Bonaria, Cagliari, Sardinia If you go out to Poetto beach by bus, you will trundle past a grand staircase that leads up to a glistening white church. This splendidly located building, facing the sea, is dedicated to Our Lady of Bonaria. It is one of the city’s most important sites. The…
Basilica of San Saturnino, Basilica di San Saturnino, Cagliari, Sardinia Located in a bit of a park, the dinky church of St Saturnino is the oldest that still stands in Cagliari. Sadly, there’s not much to it anymore, but since the poor building has had quite a battering over the centuries, it’s not surprising. The church is dedicated to the…
National Gallery of Art of Cagliari, Pinacoteca Nazionale Di Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy Over the years I have changed my attitude towards art quite drastically. When I was a teenager, I loved the Old Masters, the Renaissance, and the Italian world generally. Then I realised that I preferred the pre-Renaissance period. That I didn’t really like Italian paintings. That actually I…
Museum of Siamese Art, Museo d’arte Siamese ‘Stefano Cardu’, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy In a city like Cagliari you might not expect to discover an Asian art collection, but in fact it has an excellent one: it’s small, perhaps not immediately appealing to most people (judging by the fact that we were alone in there), but it really is a delightful…
Botanical Gardens of Cagliari, Orto Botanico di Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy Ordinarily I would not visit a botanical garden on a trip – especially if I have to pay for entry. However, we were running out of things to do in Cagliari and it was very hot – even in October – so we thought that we might escape the worst…