By leaving Buggerru through a step road one can reach the Plateau of Pranu Sartu. Once at the top we are in the company of a great number of ruined homesteads and a great accumulation of fragmented rock that disclose to us that it had once been an active mining area.

However, apart from these few signs of man, one can really enjoy the spectacular eye-catching view from high up. On one side there is an almost uninterrupted architecture formed by tormented cliffs, that stretches over the sea like a cyclopean bastion; on the other side there is the village of Buggerru, almost crouching between two high headlands and a wide sandy cove with a little harbour.

Everywhere in the limestone there are rich emergencies of calamine, which during the end of the last century captured the interest of the Societá Malfidano, a zinc mining company. The mining activity brought, together with an ephemeral prosperity, sacrifices, hard work, and deaths. On the 4th of September 1904, Buggerru rose, in fact, to the limelight by appearing in the National Press because of a strike, summoned by miners, to protest against exploitation and discomfort in which they were subjected. The army was called by the mines directors and three miners were shot death and several were injured. A memorial stone and three dramatic sculptures by Pinuccio Sciola in front of the harbour square are a reminder of the tragic event.

Eventually, the mines closed and nowadays tourism shyly makes its appearance. On this splendid coast, and in particular on the coast of Portixeddu, several entrepreneurs, mainly from the continent, have put forward some proposals for touristic exploitation.

Having in mind the images of the horrible concrete casting on which other coasts have been "touristically exploited" it is hoped that if these plans are put into effect they will consider and respect and the safeguarding of the environment.

For this reason, an interesting project that the community administration would like to accomplish, should be encouraged: the recovery and restoration of the old building and mining plants, and in particular the restoration of an old gallery, and a panoramic route on a train along a ridge just over the village. For these reasons it is desirable to find the finances for the realization of such projects. Beyond Pranu Sartu, one can carry on traveling until one reaches Cala Domestica.

This splendid marine locality is enclosed between two headlands covered by exuberant Mediterranean bush. Cyst, juniper, and broom form a singe palette that warmly contrasts with the whiteness of the dunes behind. The gusts of north-westernly winds, together with the sea-gulls, break the unreal silence. Also here, at the extremities of the beach, traces of mining stores, tatters of walls and remainings of corroded arches, are amazingly integrated with the surroundings without being out of place.

On the top of the headland there is an old tower, one of the many that mark the Sardinian coastal landscape. This lone tower is the silent witness of old arab and barbaric raids, that for centuries were carried out on our coasts, and which our people were abducted to be sold as slaves. Across an artificial tunnel built in the rock one reaches a smaller, but not less enchanting, beach, that the locals call "La Caletta". Inside this beach, one catches sight of a dried river that is almost always dry.

Near Cala Domestica there are two places of splendid savage beauty: Portu Sciusciau and Canal Grande, the latter one is known for its fossils, and therefore too often visited by people who remove findings. Also this border of the coast is exactly at the sea edge, and with the erosive action of the sea, it has hollowed a small, but delightful cove: the Grotta Azzurra (Blue Cave), where the marine water enters freely.

This series of gorges, precipices and pinnacles of stone is interrupted at the north of Buggerru by imposing dunal formations, which have been curbed by planting a large number of domestic pines so that the sand is protected from advancing towards the inside. Parallel to the coast, one finds an asphalt road with many parking spaces, separated and protected from the beach by long cane screens, where just beyond one sees the opening of the wide coast of Portixeddu furrowed by the last stroke of River Mannu, that sinuously and laboriously makes its way between the dunes to unite itself to the sea.