Monte Urpinu is an urban park located in the city of Cagliari, in the metropolitan city area. The Park spreads across the hill of the same name (98 m a.s.l.), one of the seven hills where Sardinia’s capital stands, between the natural park of Molentargius-Saline and the hill of Bonaria.
Its name “Urpinu” refers to the presence of the now non-existent colony of foxes which roamed the area in ancient times.Urpinu, in Campidanese Sardinian means “fox”. The hill has cultivated a wilderness for centuries, inhabited by foxes and other wild species.
The area was owned by the Sanjust di Teulada family who, in the1800s, launched the first reforestation with specimens of Aleppo pines. At the same time, the first restoration began of the Aragonese church, originally built between the XVII and XVIII centuries, on the ruins of a small Byzantine sanctuary.
In the 1930s, part of the area was the centre of military activity. The Airforce built a fuel depot, later expanded in the 1980s. The fuel tanks were linked via pipelines to the port and airports of Decimomannu and Elmas. Only in 2007 was the depot definitively decommissioned.
In 1939, the area of the hills fell under the administration of Cagliari’s city council and it established the city’s first urban park. However, as well as the areas which remained under military control, part of the hill remained designated to the limestone quarry.
In the 1980s, the council started important upgrading work on the park, with reforestation, management work and the cordoning off of the area.
The most common botanical species, not all of them spontaneous but adapted to the climate and the city’s soils, include the Aleppo pine, the wild olive, the carob, the holm oak, the mastic tree, the euphorbia dendroides, theatriplex halimus
, the rhamnus alaternus, the phillyrea, the hackberry and the Canary Island pine.
The park also has artificial lakes which are the habitat for numerous species of bird and amphibian. You’ll be able to spot swans, common morhen, mallards, geese, tree frogs and turtles. One unusual feature about the park is its incredibly colourful collection of peacocks.
The area also offers a network of pathways, useful for those who enjoy outdoor sports or simply for a walk. There is also gym equipment, a large kids’ play area and picnic tables.
The park currently extends for 350,000 square metres including the panoramic Viale Europa with its Belvedere and a small kiosk. From here, you have a view of the entire city. To the south-east, the view covers the Golfo degli Angeli, with the Sella del Diavolo, the Stagno di Molentargius and the Saline and Spiaggia del Poetto. To the north-west, the Castello di San Michele, on the hill of the same name, and the historical neighbourhoods of Villanova and Castello. Looking south-westwards you’ll see the neighbourhood of Marina, the port, the Stagno di Cagliari and beyond to the Monti di Capoterra.
