The historic centre of Sant’Antioco is an open-air museum and in every corner it is possible to come across the evocative traces of the past: this is the case of Sa Presonedda, a first-century funerary monument that represents the perfect compound ofboth Punic and Roman cultures.
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Sa Presonedda is an important funerary monument that dates back to the 1st century BC. C. and represents a meeting point between Punic and Roman culture.
It can be admired while walking along one of the main streets of Sant’Antioco,
Via Eleonora d’Arborea, an artery of great importance both today and in the past as it connected the centre to the lagoon and counted numerous artisan and entrepreneurial activities.
Sa Presonedda has a stepped pyramid shape while the interior consists of a vestibule, an antechamber and a vast rectangular burial chamber with five niches in the walls. It was enclosed by a large, circular-shaped millstone door made of limestone, which is unique and richly decorated.
Over the centuries, unfortunately, both the exterior decorations and possible statues of the tomb’s owners and even part of the core of the building itself have been taken away. Based on its architecture, Sa Presonedda is generically attributed to the typology of tower mausoleums. It is similar to the turriform mausoleums of North Africa and with the Roman mausoleums of Italy and the provinces but with elements of originality, the result of Punic and Roman syncretism in Sulci between the 2nd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. Apparently, Sa Presonedda was built and used by prominent members of the Roman Sulci precisely to represent their prestige and social rank.
