Padria, Nuraghe Longu

The nuraghe stands on the plateau of “Sa Sedu”, in a dominant position over the underlying valley of Badde Titta, in Meilogu, a region of northwestern Sardinia.
The nuraghe is a complex structure, consisting of a main tower to the side of which, in subsequent moments, two towers were placed together by a rectilinear curtain wall. The main tower, built with well-worked basalt blocks (especially in the upper structures) and arranged in regular rows, has an entrance to the northeast, surmounted by an lintel with an exhaust window and raised above the country level. The thrombed back wall (length 4.00 m; height 2.30/4.20 m) has an angular cover that rises rapidly towards the outlet to the chamber. The latter has a circular plan and preserves the “tholos” roof intact (height 7.00 m); a niche opens up in the wall to the right of the entrance, while on the left, considerably raised above the floor level, the opening of a staircase that with 22 steps leads to the room on the first floor. The upper room, currently cluttered with collapse, was illuminated by a small window. The two secondary towers, arranged on the side of the central one and connected by a relief wall, are now invaded by the collapse. A wall structure leaning against the keep on the north side together with the secondary east tower delimit, on the front of the entrance, an irregularly shaped courtyard. Two entrances open on the side wall of the courtyard: the first, arched, leads into a corridor (length 3.00 m) that is interrupted by the collapse; the second leads to an entrance that leads to the chamber of the east tower.
Around the monument, over a large area, there are the remains of numerous huts in the village.

History of excavations
Information not available.

Bibliography
A. Taramelli, “Sheet 193 (Bonorva)”, in Archaeological Edition of the Map of Italy, Military Geographic Institute, Florence, 1940, n. 43;
E. Melis, Map of the Nuraghi of Sardinia: prehistoric monuments in the town of Mamoiada, Spoleto, Arti Grafica Panetto & Petrelli, 1967, n. 4; F. Galli, Padria. “The museum and the territory”, archaeological Sardinia series. Guides and itineraries, 18, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 1991, pp. 38-40, fig. 33;
A. Boninu - G. M. Meloni, “Padria (Sassari) - Nuraghe Longu”, 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 Archaeological Sardinia at the end of the nineteenth century in the unpublished photographs of the English Dominican father Peter Paul Mackey, edited by P. Olivo, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 2000, p. 186.

How to get there
Leave the town of Padria and, along the sports field, follow, for 2 km, the road built to reach the monument.