Hidden by a steep slope and thick vegetation a few kilometres from the forest of Burgos, this special nuraghe is considered by many experts the most beautiful in the country.

Esporlatu is the smallest of nine comuni which make up Goceano, a region in the heart of Sardinia, in the upper valley of the river Tirso. The town lies at the feet of the Castello del Goceano (today known as Castello di Burgos) built by Gonario II di Torres in 1129. The territory of Esporlatu covers 4,831 hectares of mountains and plains.

The most ancient traces of human habitation in the area date back to the Early Bronze Age (1800 - 1500 BC), as demonstrated by the remains of some nuraghi a corridoio (corridor nuraghi) found in the surrounding area. A particularly large number of monuments however are of the Middle and Late Bronze Age, as represented by nuraghi a tholos, single-tower nuraghi, those with complex plan, and "Giants' Tombes". At this point in the research one might also expect to find more ancient remains (Late Neolithic and Eneolithic) which are present in the surrounding areas.

The Erismanzanu nuraghe is 803 metres above sea level, and is situated 4 km from Burgos forest, an area renowned both scenically and for its wildlife (it has been called the "Kingdom of the Arabo-Sardo horse") but, it could also be added, for the innumerable nuraghi to be found in the area. To get there, take the road from Burgos Forest toward the village of Burgos. Turn right onto a path two kilometres before the crossroads. Carry on until the first iron gate, from which the monument is about 500 metres. Sadly, as often happens in central Sardinia, even the most valid monuments fail to be signposted and it can be difficult to find them.

The beautiful Erismanzanu nuraghe is not visible from the main road although it is 700 metres from it, because it is on a slope which drops south until it reaches the river Fruschiosu. This river flows only sporadically now, but could have provided a valuable water supply in the prehistoric period. It is known, in fact, that nuraghic people sought two conditions for their military settlements: defense (a strategic position which dominated the surrounding area) and economy (usually pastoral in the inacessible interior), and water played an important role.

Descending the slope we begin to see the nuraghe a short distance away. To our eyes it presents a beautiful and majestic truncated cone topped by a plume of evergreen bushes, home oak and beam-tree while the northern walls are covered with ivy.

Its beauty also struck Taramelli, the archaeologist who in the first decades of this century wandered our island visiting hundreds of monuments. He thought the Erismanzanu nuraghe was, ". . . the most beautiful nuraghe in the land." The same writer spoke also about some objects found inside and outside the monument, and,"Remains of small constructions" of which no trace can be found today.

The monument is a tholos mono-tower of simple plan and with a classical lay-out which is found in many Middle Bronze-Age examples (16th - 13th Century BC), but has a few variations, as we shall see. There lies corridor with a spiral staircase on the left and on the right a look-out garret and a central room with three niches cut into the stone at right-angles to each other.

The tower has massive external walls in trachyte, particularly large at the base, which diminish in size as they rise, making the structure lighter. To give you an idea of the size, here are the dimensions of the two door jambs at the entrance to the nuraghe: 1.52 m x 0.63 m and 1.24 m x 0.60 m. Both the lower and upper blocks of the tower are regular externally and are well worked. The result is therefore external walls of regular lines with good coincidence and no need for in-filling between the gaps.

The tower, which rises to 8 metres and 17 layers of blocks, lacks only the terrace, the remains of which have not been found, even at the base of the tower. The terrace, or rather its remains, are very rarely preserved and only in cases such as the nuraghe of Tilariga di Bultei and Albucciu di Arzachena can evidence be found of them.

Thanks to the bronze models of nuraghi found at Ittireddu ed Olmedo (7th - 6th Century BC), we know how the nuraghic towers were formed at the top. A similar limestone model found at Barumini shows a gallery with a parapet which protrudes from the wall and is supported by corbels.

The entrance faces the lightest direction; east, as is usual in these monuments. It is surmounted by a perfectly worked architrave with a rectangular external face of 1.6 m in length, 0.7 m tall and 0.8 m thick. Over the architrave there is a small window where the adjacent blocks are slightly separated in order to distribute the weight directly over the doorjambs.

The entrance, once probably closed with wood or stone, allows access to a corridor covered by large slabs. From here there is the entrance to the spiral staircase on the left which even today allows access to the upstairs level.

The sentry garret, on the right of the corridor, is a niche surmounted by a pointed arch which allowed the sentry to assail the enemy and defend himself with a shield in his left hand and a weapon gripped in his right.

A second imposing entrance, 5.2 m from the first, admits you into the central room, the largest space in the structure. The entrance is trapezoidal and is 2.7 m in height. This perfectly circular room has a diameter of 4.5 metres with three niches dug into the thickness of the wall (to lighten the structure, sleeping places, or storage?). These are distributed in the shape of a cross; one opposite the entrance, one on the left and one on the right. Like the sentry-garret, these are also surmounted by pointed arches.

The centre of the floor until a short time ago was hidden by a block only slightly raised from the floor which opened onto a pit. It is difficult to say what its function was - whether a well for water or, more likely, a silo. Whatever its use, the underground space, a little more than a metre in depth below floor level, has wall made of well-worked blocks.

The room is covered by an "a tholos" ceiling which is 7.5 m from floor level. It is made, unlike the external wall, of rows of polyhedric blocks well connected to each other apart from rare infilling with mud mortar between the blocks. Also in the central space, as outside, the large blocks have been set in regular rows, reducing in size with elevation.

The superior part of the tower is accessible, as mentioned, by the spiral staircase. The terrace and the upper level had an essentially defensive funtion and represented therefore, the true strategic point of the nuraghe. The corbels at the base of the terrace origionally projected out from the upper part of the tower which was protected by a vertical parapet. It was from height that the nuraghic people dominated the surrounding land overlooking the enemy and so could protect themselves from attacks, fighting with whatever arms they had at their disposal.

In the terrace of the Erismanzanu nuraghe there were, in addition, two storage places one of which was 3m in depth, their functions are still in doubt but could have been related to the inhabitative or defensive character of the structure.

It is certain however that the Erismanzanu nuraghe with its beautiful tower and unique characteristics which distinguish it from many other monuments (perfectly square blocks forming the wall, internal well in the central room and storage niches in the upper part) is still a monument unknown to many and not fully appreciated.