The necropolis is located on the slopes of Mount Ortobene, a granite relief a few kilometers from Nuoro, in central-northern Sardinia.
The hypogeic complex, dug into a rocky hill, consists of five burials: the tomb of Janna Ventosa and the four tombs called “Maria Frunza”.
The tomb of Janna Ventosa — the best known — is of a mixed type: a megalithic corridor has been attached to the artificial grotticella.
The corridor, oriented to the SW, consists of two parallel wall structures, supported by the rock outcrop and built with horizontal rows of stones.
From the entrance door - with a threshold consisting of a trapezoidal stone - you can access the rectangular antechamber; the walls of the room are hammered smooth, on the floor there is a ritual hearth and an ovoid dimple.
The main cell - coaxial to the anticell and has a rectangular plan - is accompanied by two raised side counters (height 0.80 m); the room has traces of red plaster and some frames along the short sides of the counter of the church. Tomb I of Maria Frunza, on the other hand, has an irregular multicellular planimetric development: from a small pavilion you can access
the sub-rectangular anticell with rounded corners (width 2.70 m); a decentralized entrance leads to the main cell with a rectangular plan (rectangular). width 3.80 m), with subsidiary compartment quadrangular (width m 1.55) on
the d side. Tomb II has an “L” planimetric development: from the antecell with a quadrangular plan (width m 1.65; height m 1.10) you can access the central cell - with an irregular quadrangular plan (width m 1.45; height m 1.25) - which leads, on the d side, into a third cell on a raised floor (height m 0.30) with a quadrangular shape (width max. 1.80; height m 0.90).
Tomb III, extensively remodeled during the last war (when it served as a refuge for the displaced), is accessed through five steps, the third of which has a basin; the next larger, rectangular cell (width 4.90 m; length 3.20 m; height 1.80 m), has a rectangular pillar and behind this, on the right side, a counter saved in the rock. Two small secondary rooms with an irregular plan with rounded walls overlook the room.
Tomb IV consists of a trapezoidal entrance pavilion from which two coaxial cells are accessed: the quadrangular antecell (width m 1.90; length m 2.10; height m 1.55) leads into the next rectangular room with a raised floor plan (width m 2.50; length m 1.55; height m 1.05). The walls bear traces of red color.
The necropolis dates back to the late Neolithic (culture of Ozieri, 3200-2800 BC) — Eneolithic (Monte Claro culture, 2400-2100 BC; Campaniform Vase culture, 2100-1800 BC).

History of excavations
The grave of Janna Ventosa was excavated in 1985 by Alba Foschi Nieddu, for the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro.

Bibliography
V. Santoni, “Preliminary Note on the Type of Artificial Funeral Grotticels in Sardinia”, in Archivio Storico Sardo, XXX, 1976, p. 28;
Equipe ex L. 285/77, Nuragic and Pre-Nuragic Architecture, Nuoro, Municipal Department of Culture, 1981, pp. 35-39;
A. Foschi Nieddu, “The Tomb of Janna Ventosa”, in Cultural Heritage Week: 10 years of activity in the province of Nuoro, Nuoro, Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage, Superintendence archaeological for the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro, Nuoro Operations Office, 1985, p. 35;
A. Foschi Nieddu, “Ozieri culture documents from the cave of Sa Korona in Monte Maiore and from the Janna Ventosa necropolis”, in The Culture of Ozieri, Problems and New Acquisitions, Proceedings of the First Study Conference, (Ozieri, January 1986-April 1987), edited by L. Dettori Campus, Ozieri, Il Torchietto, 1989, pp. 145-152; M. Sanna, Prehistoric Nuoro: archaeological sites and routes in the territory of Nuoro, “Archaeological Notebooks” series, Nuoro, 1997, pp. 59-65;
A. Foschi Nieddu, “An Ozieri phase of the Copper Age in Tomb I of Janna Ventosa (Nuoro)”, in Sardinian and Aegean Chronology. Towards the Resolution of Relative and Absolute Dating in the Mediterranean, curated by M.S. Balmuth-R.H. Tykot, series “Studies in Sardinian archaeology”, 5, Oxford, Oxbow, 1998, pp. 273-283;
A. Foschi, “A case of coexistence between hypogeism and megalithism in the culture of Ozieri: Tomb I of Janna Ventosa (NU)”, in Proceedings of the Sardinian-Spain Study Meeting on Aspects of Prehistoric Megalitism (Lunamatrona, September 21-23, 2001), Cagliari 2001, pp. 84-87.

How to get there
From Nuoro, take the road to the Sanctuary of Solitude and Marreri and proceed for about 2 km until you find a white house on the right and a pine forest on the left. Walk along the path along the edge of the forest for about 300 m: on the left there is a rocky ridge on which Maria Frunza's first burial is located, while the other tombs are located further down the valley along the same ridge. Janna Ventosa's grave, on the other hand, is located a kilometer earlier, always on the road to Marreri: it can also be reached in this case by turning left on a small road that goes into the afforestation area.