Porto Paglia

DISCOVERING

The wonders of Porto Paglia

Once in semi-abandonment, these buildings included the ancient dwellings of the tonnarotti, and the dock where boats, barges and equipment were housed. Well restored, it currently houses a tourist village.
Not far from the tonnara is the beach of Is Arenas, with the vast dunes behind it, which continues northwards, forming a splendid 4 km long beach with Funtanamare.
The coast, towards the south, is instead higher and more rocky: here, on a rock lapped by the waves that is about the same size as the building, stands the ancient little church of the tonnarotti, the only one in Sardinia that can be accessed directly from a boat, which can be anchored to the tiny quay of the “churchyard”. To reach it on foot, you pass through a shallow seabed, jumping from one rock to another. Built in the second half of the eighteenth century, the plant remained active until 1974. The complex includes two-storey buildings (where the processing of fish was carried out) – articulated around a courtyard – a small church and a stump of a Spanish watchtower, dating back to 1598.