Padria, Palattu archaeological complex

Padria is located in the center of Meilogu, in the N/W part of the island, in the valley of the Temo river. The town is protected by three volcanic stone hills, the San Giuseppe, San Paolo and San Pietro hills, and is located at the foot of Mount Minerva. The Palattu area is an archaeological site of great interest, with numerous stratifications over time, starting from the Nuragic Age to the Middle Ages. There are also numerous archaeological sites along the San Giuseppe hill.
The site of Palattu, on top of the San Paolo hill, has returned a series of testimonies that prove that the place was already inhabited in the Nuragic era. The most substantial tracks, however, probably date back to the Punic Age. In particular, it is a wall bastion, built in large ashlars of volcanic stone, about 65 m long and part of a Phoenician-Punic fortress, reused in Roman and medieval times.
Next to and on the remains of this fortification, in the 16th century, the baronial palace of the De Ferrera family was built, a stronghold that gave its name to the entire site, precisely on Palattu.

History of studies
On the archaeological area of Palattu see the articles by Fulvia Lo Schiavo and Giovanni Tore (1984), followed by the contributions of Antonietta Boninu and Antonella Pandolfi (2001).

Bibliography
F. Lo Schiavo, “Padria (Sassari) Localita Palattu”, in The Sardinians: Sardinia from the Paleolithic to the Roman Age, Milan, 1984, p. 291; G. Tore, “Padria: loc. Palattu”, in I Sardi: Sardinia from the Paleolithic to the Roman Age: a guide to files of Sardinian archaeological sites, Milan, 1984, pp. 311-312;
A. Boninu, G.M. Meloni, A. Pandolfi, “Padria (Sassari) - Site of Palattu”, in Images from the Past: Archaeological Sardinia at the end of the nineteenth century in the unpublished photographs of the English Dominican Father Peter Paul Mackey, edited by P. Olivo, Sassari, 2000, p. 191; A. Pandolfi, “Images from the Past: Archaeological Sardinia at the end of the 19th century in the unpublished photographs of the Dominican English father Peter Paul Mackey, edited by P. Olivo, Sassari, 2000, p. 191; A. Pandolfi, “Images from the Past: Archaeological Sardinia at the end of the 19th century in the unpublished photographs of the English Dominican Father Peter Paul Mackey, edited by P. Olivo, Sassari, 2000, p. 191; A. Pandolfi, “Images from the Past: Archaeological Sardinia at the end of the nineteenth century Palattu: emergency construction site, construction site projects”, in PadriAntica: museum and territory: acts of 2. Study Conference, Macomer, 2001, pp. 87-99.

How to get there
Padria is about 58 km from Sassari, along the SS 292 that from Villanova Monteleone reaches Suni. The Palattu site is located at the top of the San Paolo hill, on the edge of the town.