Tharros

The ancient settlement of Tharros stands on the farthest promontory of the Sinis Peninsular. It was a busy trading port in the Phoenician - Punic era (VIII century B.C.), which maintained its importance during the Roman period (238 B.C.), until it was abandoned around the III century A.D. .

Over the centuries sand was swept into dunes, which piled up around the settlement. When this protecting cover was finally removed it revealed fascinating testimony to this impressive city, one of the most important in the entire Mediterranean, with roads, temples, dwellings, meeting areas, a sewage system and areas reserved for commerce.

This inestimable historic patrimony nestles in a natural setting of incomparable beauty, surrounded by a splendid marine environment.

The city was founded in a strategic position, with the Sinis Penisola offering shelter from the powerful Mistral wind and the sea providing a natural defence system and a ready supply of water. Tharros soon became an important maritime stronghold and the centre of a vast Mediterranean trading activity.

Its true artistic splendour can be admired in the burial art of the two large necropolises and in the jewels and various examples of clay objects found in the area, as well as in the remains of various fascinating temples, which lie the north of the excavation site.

In 280 B.C. Tharros was conquered by the Romans and began a second era of prosperity as a flourishing trading port. Testimony to this period can be seen in the new buildings which sprang up, the thermal baths, aqueducts and roads.