Nuraghe Iloi
From a welcoming and photographic plateau this nuraghe has seen over the passage of millennia various civilizations beginning from the Neolithic.
From 270 meters up in the air, it’s obvious that the populations that inhabited the village of Iloi – prenurgahic, nuraghic – were able to control the territory, at that point populated with several different streams, it’s also highly likely that many ceremonies and mysterious rites were performed here and we know from archaeological finds that burials were held here.
The archaeological site, today a state park, is only two kilometers from Sedilo and it dominates the ancient valley of Tirso, with a panoramic view of the north-western shore of the Omodeo lake.
Calling your attention, at the interior of the park is the complex nuraghe, a three towered structure, surrounded by a trapezoidal shell, which perhaps represents the original nucleus of the site, some have suggested that it could have been a nuraghe with passage ways, dated from the Ancient Bronze Age and the beginning of Middle Bronze Age.
The trilobite structure was realized in many successive passages, all the way up to the Later Bronze and it has a concave to convex inclination. The eastern tower is the best conserved: entering through an architrave entrance, we observe a chamber with a vaulted ceiling, known as tholos, with a niche and the sign of blocked passage on the left wall. You will notice a thick section of curtain wall that connects with the northern tower, inaccessible today because of falling stones. The keep maintains the first rows of basalt blocks up to 2 meters and half.
Around the nuraghe you can observe numerous circular structures, these are the remains of the huts that made up the nuraghic village, that in its origins extends for up to 2 hectares. Some of these huts had cultural functions, other were used as a common open space. The “cemeteries” of the nuraghe people were the Giants Tombs, one which has yet to be excavated, we can see the profile of the corridor, the other is well conserved and it displays the classic planimetric scheme: a central aspe body, a funeral corridor covered and laid out on a exedra, in which you note a bench-seat interrupted by a circular platform near the entrance. The flooring is covered in stone slabs.
At 300 meters from the nuraghic site, climbing up the banks of the plateau, we see the first traces of the peoples that preceded the nuraghe : there are 33 domus de janas (the so-called “House of the Fairies”) that form the necropolis of Ispiluncas, carved into the tufo stone at the end of the Neolithic period. The fairy homes, divided into two sections, are in part multi-cellular while others are single chambered. Tomb #2 is composed of more than 13 chambers and presents traces of red paint. Tomb #3 shows a central quadrangle around which we can find the secondary chambers. Both of the necropolis were used up to the high Medieval period.
The Iloi park is the best archaeological expression of the Sedilo territory but it is rich also in trekking and naturalistic sports: the areas around the Omodeo lake are perfect for trekking and its water is perfect for canoe and kayak.
Another attraction is the sanctuary of San Constantino, just outside the center of town, the home of the frenetic horsemanship atmosphere of the Ardia, surrounded by cumbessias, the offering given to the pilgrims.