On rooftops of Stampace

Expected time (h:m): 

2:00

Walk for: 

4 km

Difficulty: 

  • medium

The old residents, and few fearless people, brave it with their car. But it is walking through it that the maze of narrow streets of Stampace shows its ancient beauty. The corners are impossible to be noticed and fully enjoyed when behind the wheel. Wrought ironed small balconies with the laundry hanging out to dry and bright coloured façades alternate strict churches. Close to May 1st, date of Sant’Efisio celebration, the neighbourhood becomes a human river of worshipers and tourists flocked to assist to the dressing and to the departure of the Saint. And in late July, the feast of Cuccurus Cottu fills the air with the aroma of the malloreddus (typical Sardinian pasta) and the fish distributed on the streets. Less folkloric indeed, but fully enjoyable in its silence, is the view that opens up from the bastion of Santa Croce, which dominates Stampace. A sea of sloping roofs covered with tiles mount a web of narrow streets that climb up to the belvedere.

Between lace and dresser

Stampace is still uptight to its past, preserved in the valuable and old handicrafts and in the knowledge generously handed down to those who can appreciate it; for those able to leave, for a few minutes, the river of lights, music and fashion brands of the nearby Via Manno (street), the shopping heart of the city, to sink their eyes between the laces and doilies of Piazza Yenne (square), biting into the decorated almond pastries of the coffee bars. For those able to enjoy the magic of letting the hands loose in the fresh delights of the Municipal Market of Santa Chiara, located at the top of the stairs baring the same name, and the feet through the narrow streets of the neighbourhood, where you can discover goldsmiths, antique shops, tailors and hat makers.

Church of St. Anna

Its green domes break the linear plan of the terracotta tiles of the roofs of Stampace. Majestic, yet maternal, the church Sant’Anna is the epicentre of the neighbourhood. To sit for a moment on the steps of the Sant’Anna’s wide staircase or in the coffee shops that offers Via Azuni (street) between the flower-filled balconies allow catching your breath in all its intimacy. The church has always been significant to the Stampace community, so as to be fully restored after the severe damage suffered during the bombing of 1943, which tore the historic city centre.

Phone: 070663963

St. Michael Church

The archangel Michael kindly observes the pedestrians. They seek him in the abundance of baroque façade with their nose pointed towards the sky. They seek him and find him. Then they look for the church, and they can’t find it. It seems like the architecture has played a joke on the church of San Michele (St. Michael), unique in the history of the city; its façade is rotated 90 degrees respect to the entrance of worship. This is how is resolved, in a unique balance, the contrast between the excesses of Baroque and Rococo styles and the austerity of the Mysteries, painted and sculpted.

An important historical testimony is the pulpit (from the medieval church of San Francesco, which was destroyed in the nineteenth century) where, during his visit to Cagliari in 1535, Emperor Charles V, attended Mass.

Phone number: 070658626

Opening hours:

Weekdays 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. / 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Holidays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. / 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Sant'Efisio Crypt

Blood, tears, fear and courage still exude from the crypt of Sant’Efisio, accessible from the homonymous church in the district of Stampace. It was the martyrdom of the warrior Efisio who fought for the Faith. It also became the tomb of his follower Edizio, martyr as well, and a shelter during the bombing that tore the city in 1943.

 

Phone number: 070652130 

Opening time:

From Tuesday to Sunday  

Calling is advised to check on opening hours

 

Santa Restituta Crypt

The first sensation perceived is a bone-chilling cold. The second is the satisfaction of having discovered a hidden and mysterious spot, where the labourers of Roman Cagliari deposed, with order and caution, the amphorae. The crypt of Santa Restituta, dug in the rock beneath the church itself, is in part a natural cave. The amphorae are now gone, but there still remains a faded fresco depicting St. John the Baptist, the last survivor of a stone gallery.  

 

Phone number: +39 3662562826 / 070.667.0168

Fax 0706851832

Email: info@beniculturalicagliari.it

Website: www.beniculturalicagliari.it

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Closed on Mondays

Free entrance

 

Sperone Tower

The tower of the Sperone, of Alberti or of San Michele, is the only witness of the city walls, built by Pisans in the XIII century, to defend the historic neighbourhood of Stampace. The building, crossed at the base by a portico, was built in March 1293, as reported by an epigraph placed on the façade of the tower that overlooks via Portoscalas (street).

Quadrangular and built in limestone, it is adorned with some rectangular windows and a sort of blind loggietta, made up of four round arches, the same shape found in the arch of the porch below.

Villa Tigellio

Close your eyes. It will seem to hear the voices and laughter of the families living there and to smell ancient perfumes. The Villa Tigellio is one of the most important housing of Sardinia from the Roman period. It dates back to the period between the Republican age and the VI-VII century A.D.

 

It owes its name to the homonymous figure, famous poet and singer, who lived during the Augustan era in Roman times. It is actually an elegant town house in a residential district of the Roman city of Karales, built during the Roman period in the first century A.D.

 

The excavations, which began in 1876, brought to light some room renamed Casa degli Stucchi (House of stuccoes). In the 60s of the last century, other structures have emerged, gathered under the name of House of Tablino Dipinto, and a thermal building.

 

Opening hours: 

Winter: every day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Summer (from Monday, May 11th): every day 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. / 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 

Prices: 

Adult: € 2.00  

Youth and groups: € 1.00

Botanical Garden

For the Cagliaritani children, it is a regular destination during school trips. Even one that is no longer child, in the Botanical Garden can close his eyes, relax his mind, dreaming of the woods and goblins, Mediterranean shrubland biome and desert. You can find all of these among the two thousand plant species, six hundred trees and more than five hundred shrubs where to dive during the walk through the ruins, memories and museums of past times.

Opened in 1866, the garden is divided into sections: Mediterranean plants, succulents and tropical. An exotic touch is the palm trees collection, which houses about sixty specimens of Euphorbia canariensis.

Roman Amphitheatre

Operas, concerts, rain of lights and applauses. The Roman Amphitheatre now rests quietly, waiting for its new glory. Lulled by the natural slope of Buoncammino Col, it is dug into the limestone and partly remodelled. Its construction dates back to the period between the I and II centuries A.D., when the rock was carved to take form into: steps, a small dimension arena, various corridors (vomitorium) and other services locations connected to these.

Phone number: 070.2310022 – 33

Email: itinerarituristici.lms@gmail.com

Website: www.anfiteatroromano.it

Opening hours:

From Friday to Sunday and on holidays: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.