Among the waterfalls and forests of the Barbagia di Seulo, on the border with southern Sardinia, stands a tower that once protected the settlements inhabited by the Nuragic people.
It has always been shrouded in an aura of legend, while its position, structure and proximity to similar fortresses suggest that it was a ‘nuraghe-viewpoint’, part of a territorial control system. Su Nuraxi ‘e Pauli owes its name to the locality in the territory of Seulo where it stands, just over two kilometres from the town. It is a single-tower nuraghe, built by laying irregular rows of shale blocks. The diameter measures just over ten metres, while the tower has a residual height of around seven metres. You will be surprised by the considerable wall thickness, more than two metres. From the entrance, you will enter an entrance hall with an ogive roof. On the left is the stairwell, its steps leading to the top of the tower; while on the right you will notice a niche. The hallway ends in the main chamber, circular in plan, in which you will notice two more niches.
The nuraghe stands on top of a rocky relief, from which you will admire a suggestive view of the valley of the Rio Medau, dotted with oak woods, with Mount Perdedu in the background. The other name of the nuraghe is Mannu, to differentiate it from another tower that rises two hundred metres to the south-east: it is su Nuraxeddu, ‘the small nuraghe’. (from Sardegna Turismo)
The photos of Su Nuraxi ‘e Pauli are by: Giovanni Sotgiu, Andrea Mura-Nuragando Sardegna and Bibi Pinna.
