At just a few minutes from Castelsardo, there is the Elephant Rock, a large mass of volcanic rock of an intense rust colour. The rock has been significantly eroded by atmospheric agents that
have given it the singular appearance of a seated pachyderm.
In official documents the rock was called Sa Pedra Pertunta (the pierced stone). It was in 1914 that scholar Edoardo Benetti first associated the boulder with an elephant.
In the pre-Nuragic age it was used as a domus de janas, or as a multiple tombs. In Sardinian, the term means house of the fairies because a legend and common usage indicated them as fairy houses.
Approaching the rock, one can see some quadrangular openings carved into it. The openings are arranged on two levels, and display bas-reliefs depicting bull’s horns that are still visible.
