Parco di Terramaini (Terramaini Park), Cagliari

The Terramaini Park is a beautiful urban park off the beaten path in the city of Cagliari, Sardinia. The park features a pond with colorful flowers and rich vegetation, benches and tables along the path that runs along it, a playground for children and disabled people, as well as areas for wildlife. It is well-laid out and really lovely to walk around.

The park occupies the area of the pre-existing Monserrato airport. The airport was abandoned in 1937, replaced by the Cagliari-Elmas airport, but was reused during the Second World War but was then destroyed by the bombing of Cagliari in 1943. The network of artificial canals in Cagliari, of which that of Terramaini represents the most important, was created at the beginning of the 20th century with multiple purposes: to carry out agricultural reclamation of the territory, to allow floating, to encourage the exchange of fresh water with sea water to strengthen the Molentargius salt pans and allow the construction of Viale Guglielmo Marconi. The Terramaini canal, also called riu Saliu in Sardinian, gives its name to the park and represents its border. It was created in the 1920s and is navigable thanks to its width of up to 60 meters and was polluted by waste water until the early 1990s. In 1997, work began for the creation of the park. The interventions were financed by the municipality of Cagliari, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia and the Ministry of Finance. The park extends over 114,704 m², was inaugurated in mid-2006 and is the work of engineers Paolo Pintor and Raimondo Congiu. Inside there is an artificial lake inhabited by pink flamingos, which makes it possible to observe the birds via a pedestrian walkway.

The Terramaini Park is located in the northern area of Cagliari and occupies an area of approximately eleven hectares, which runs along the Riu Saliu canal on the east side. A recently created green area (it was inaugurated in May 2006), it saw its birth at the end of the 90s, following a radical reclamation work on the site, previously in a state of abandonment. The area is spread over a flat surface, characterized by large lawns, in which there are children's play areas, sports areas with numerous tools and areas for recreational activities. There is also a small theater for cultural performances and/or meetings. Along the perimeter there are comfortable stone seats, which surround the pedestrian walkway (frequently used by runners). Inside the park there is an artificial lake surrounded on the west side by a wooden walkway and surrounded by thick reeds. There are numerous botanical species present, typical of the Mediterranean scrub, such as myrtle, carob, olive tree, rosemary, phillyrea, strawberry tree, pine and mastic, but there is no shortage of exotic species such as palms, ficus and callistemon. Right at the top of the palm trees, numerous families of parakeets, colorful parrots, which have now become characteristic of the park, find their home.

The Terramaini park is a green space, a residual strip of the large pond of the same name, which extends for 8 hectares. It was born from a reclamation work in an area located north of the city, adjacent to the Terramaini canal and the Molentargius/Saline park, the result of an agreement signed in 1997 between the Sardinia Region, the Ministry of Finance and the Municipality of Cagliari. The project involved the creation of the park in the areas bordering the Terramaini canal and a series of sports and accommodation facilities. The park is spread over a flat surface, where the green lawn areas dominate the tall trees. It is an ideal place for walking, jogging or doing gymnastics among the Mediterranean vegetation and the flamingo pond which is home to other species such as herring gulls. Four play areas reserved for children have been created in the park, an open-air theater for small events, a bowling green, an area equipped for water games and an area reserved for dogs. The botanical species present are: mastic, phillyrea, rosemary, strawberry tree, myrtle, pine, carob, olive tree. There are also insertions of species of tropical origin such as: palms, ficus and callistemon. ***PH***