The work

The Domus de Janas are World Heritage Sites. The long and arduous undertaking of the CeSIM, (Center for Identity and Memory Studies), led by Giuseppa Tanda, former professor of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Cagliari, finally reached its goal. On the 12th of July 2025, UNESCO recognized the “exceptional universal value” of the prehistoric Sardinian necropolises. Seventeen sites were chosen to represent the three thousand and five rock-hewn tombs carved five thousand years ago. These structures are found throughout the territory and are integral part of the island's cultural heritage. The Fairy Houses – The Enchantment of the Domus de Janas pays homage to the women and men of those times, who left us this priceless inheritance of extraordinary beauty, carved in the rock with only stone tools. It combines reality and myth through photography and narration, scientific literature and fiction. The result is a fantastic journey made by journalist Tonino Oppes and photographer Nicola Castangia through Sardinia’s Memories of Humanity, to explore these masterpieces rich with paintings and ritualisti symbols linked to the cult of the dead. They are accompanied by a very special guide: Shardu, a man from prehistoric times who worked with his people to cut, carve, and paint the Domus de Janas. Through the literary devices of Shardu’s narration, the reader is drawn to the greatness of a civilization whose tireless might granted eternal rest in the afterlife to their loved ones, a legacy that still stands to testify the millennial culture of Sardinia.