Access
The San Basilio Park is well signposted and from the inhabited centre of Ollolai you take a convenient uphill asphalt road, very panoramic, which leaves the village behind and soon plunges into a forest of Holm oaks. From the asphalt road you change to concrete, soon passing the astronomical observatory of San Basilio, and the Planetarium of Ollolai, located on the right-hand side of the road. You continue for a short distance over a few slopes until you reach a large clearing after which the rolling road begins to descend with tight hairpin bends.
San Basilio
The mountain overlooking the village of Ollolai, once one of the most important centres in the area, is dedicated to San Basilio Magno, and the small road leads to the church dedicated to the saint, built in Byzantine era and then renovated several times, in front of which, are the ruins of the convent that once belonged to the Franciscans, and is the theatre of many legends. Just below the church and a spring, often dry in the hottest summers, there is a vast clearing surrounded by a dense Holm oak forest and an impressive series of granite peaks which are incredibly broken and varied. On the left, at the top of Sa Punta Manna, which you could reach via a route marked with some ropes, however it requires experience of short climbs along a path, to be tackled only if you are an experienced mountaineer and the rocks are dry.
The sign of history
The area of San Basilio was, however, inhabited in much earlier times than the church and convent can testify. The numerous caverns carved out by erosion in the granite tafoni have been inhabited, with certainty, since the Neolithic period, as many archaeological investigations testify. Hollowed-out rock shelters are scattered throughout the area, and to get an idea of the territory in which the proto-Sardinians operated, it is worth spotting, just below the small church, a fence that one meets on the right, towards the direction of the field. Beyond it, you come to a fairly obvious little path that begins to climb steeply in the middle of the wood, marked by the passage of people and bicycles, but with no trail signs or markings. You then reach a wide ridge in the middle of the forest where you come across a more visible track, the remains of a disused dirt road. Take it to the right, soon arriving near the communication mast that towers above the area. There are numerous sites of archaeological interest in the vicinity, although they are poorly signposted. After a visit to the scenic rocks near the antenna, you take the dirt road to the right, going downhill and soon returning to the tarmac road that leads back to the village.
