Tharros, the city the sea is reclaiming at Cabras

There are ruins you visit and ruins you listen to. Tharros belongs to the second kind. It stands on a tongue of land jutting into the Gulf of Oristano, at the southern tip of the Sinis peninsula, about ten kilometres from Cabras. Here the Doric columns of the temple stand out against the blue of the Mediterranean, while the mistral wind whistles through the paved streets of a city that has crossed almost three millennia of history.

It was the Phoenicians who founded it, towards the end of the 8th century BC, beside an already existing Nuragic village. Then came the Carthaginians, who fortified it, and the Romans, who from 238 BC provided it with baths, aqueducts and roads. It became a bishop's see in the Byzantine era and the first capital of the Giudicato of Arborea, until pirate raids emptied it. In the course of the 11th century it was abandoned: its inhabitants moved inland, giving rise to present-day Oristano.

But the real peculiarity of Tharros is that it has never truly finished dying. The western coast, exposed to the prevailing north-westerly winds, suffers constant erosion: the sea slowly draws back the cliff, and pieces of the ancient city slip beneath the waves. You walk, then, on a site that is crumbling, where the line between land and water is a continuous negotiation. It is an experience that demands respect and a light tread.

Watching over the promontory stands the tower of San Giovanni, built between the late 15th and early 16th century, from which the eye takes in the whole gulf. Not far off survive the two necropolises and the tophet, the Phoenician funerary sanctuary: places that call for silence more than photographs.

To truly enjoy them, choose spring or autumn, when the climate is mild and visitors are few. Avoid the height of August, when the nearby beach of San Giovanni di Sinis pours some of its bathers here. Arrive early, walk slowly, stay on the marked paths: Tharros is fragile, and every step counts.

Related guides: Where to go to the sea in September without crowds: the South when the tourists leave.

Getting there

The archaeological area of Tharros occupies the tip of the Sinis peninsula, beside the village of San Giovanni di Sinis, in the municipality of Cabras. By car you leave the SS131 at Oristano, cross Cabras and follow the signs for San Giovanni di Sinis, where you park a short distance from the entrance. The reference railway station is Oristano; the nearest airport is Cagliari-Elmas, about an hour and a half away, with Alghero and Olbia as alternatives.

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