The ancient city of Nora stands on the promontory of Capo Pula, separated from dry land by an isthmus. The Spanish tower of Coltellazzo, opposite the island of the same name, dominates the area from a spectacular spot.
Nora is mentioned in citations as the oldest city in Sardinia, even though, based on current archaeological data, the first known inhabited area was Sulki, current-day Sant’Antioco. The famous Nora Stone, dating from the middle of the VIII century B.C. is the first time the name of Sardinia appears written using the Phoenician alphabet.
Already inhabited in the VIII century B.C. by Levantine merchants, as early as the beginning of the VII century B.C., the site recorded a more stable presence of Phoenicians, some of whose tombs have been uncovered. When the Carthaginians conquered Sardinia, the residential area developed and expanded. A part of this stage was brought to light in the Roman forum, while the necropoles extended out across the isthmus area.
In 227 B.C., when the province of Sardinia et Corsica was established, Nora fell within the orbit of Rome. It became a municipium during the first imperial era and it constructed facilities typical of a Roman city: the forum, theatre and thermal baths.
Three important religious buildings dating to Punic times continued to be used even in the Roman era. One was the complex known as the Punic temple of Tanit, together with the sanctuary located at the foot of the Coltellazzo peak and the Sanctuary of Esculapio, located in the southern promontory, known as “the snake’s tip”, where two clay statues of recumbent figures originate from. Private residences, built using the traditional African “chassis” technique with larger vertical stone elements and filler material in small-medium sized blocks, often have wells and cisterns. Starting from the imperial age, the water was also supplied via an aqueduct. In the western part of the site, we find the ruins of a well-to-do residential neighbourhood, in particular the ruins of a home known as Casa dell’atrio tetrastilo (house with tetrastyle atrium) (II-III A.D.), identified by its four monolithic columns and polychrome geometrical floor mosaics adorning some of its rooms. Among these, we find the only example of a decorated mosaic attributed to Nora, represented by a panel, positioned in the centre of one of the rooms which preserves part of a Nereid.
The archaeological site bears witness to a period in time starting between the VIII and VII centuries B.C. and ending with its final downfall in the VIII century A.D., after the residential area’s long period of gradual decline.
The first digs over an extensive area began in 1889, after a coastal storm brought to light a part of the tofet. In the years that followed, the Punic necropoles were examined, followed in the early years of the twentieth-century by digs in the area of the isthmus occupied by graves from the Imperial Roman era. In the 1950s, under Gennaro Pesce, work started across the entire promontory which brought to light a vast part of the ancient city. Interest in the site increased over time and numerous interventions by the Heritage Authorities followed. They continue to this day with important digs and restoration work at the archaeological site. Four Italian university teams also work at the site.
