In the countryside of the municipality of Bolotana, on the plateau of Marghine, the Welsh engineer Benjamin Piercy (1827-1888), built a villa and adjacent park.
Piercy arrived in Sardinia in 1863 to design the railway network. As well as his main job, he dedicated his life to a model farming venture in what was once known as the Badd’e Salighe Estate (Valle dei Salici) and Padru Mannu.
The Villa Piercy was built in perfect English colonial style, between 1880 and 1883. The Park, and integral part of the forest, was created following the design criteria of an English garden. It is currently a huge natural oasis of around 40 hectares.
There are a number of native species in the forest such as Montpellier maple, English yew, holly, chestnut, holm oak and downy oak. However, Piercy was a great botanical lover and enthusiast, and experimented with planting “exotic” species, of different origins such as the oriental Tuja, spruce from Spain, Cephalonia and the Caucasus, Lawson cypress, Balearic boxwood and California incense cedar. It is this species of cedar profiling the picturesque tree-lined avenue leading to the villa.
There was also a sawmill in the area to produce chestnut wood sleepers for the railway lines under construction. This work involved a great deal of felling. This is why Piercy planted numerous reforestation nurseries, covering a total of 340 hectares.
The geology of the area is characterised by the presence of different kinds of volcanic rocks.
Only in 1953, ten years after the death of Piercy’s last heir was the forest area partially handed over to the municipality of Bolotana, following a long legal battle.
For his work in favour of Sardinia, King Umberto I honoured Piercy with the title of Commendatore della Corona d’Italia. On 2 May 1882, the municipality of Bolotana made him an honorary citizen.
The site is easy to reach either from the trunk road SS131 or from the town of Bolotana, along the country road, SP17.
