7 + 1 stunning abandoned places in Sardinia

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Let’s start exploring some abandoned places in Sardinia!

Abandoned places in Sardinia > Centro Commerciale Riviera di Sorso, Platamona

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Abandoned places in Sardinia > CIMEL, Porto Torres

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Abandoned places in Sardinia > Saponificio Ledà, Sassari

Abandoned places in Sardinia > Manicomio di Rizzeddu, Sassari

Abandoned places in Sardinia > Diga di Bunnari, Osilo

Abandoned places in Sardinia > Abandoned USAF Radio Station, Tempio Pausania

Back in Sardinia four years later, I set out to explore more abandoned places in Sardinia. The forgotten places I visited last summer were quite disappointing, except for this one, which is so cool that it has earned a place in this article ;)

I’m talking about the American military station on top of Limbara Mountain (in the area of Tempio Pausania, in the northern part of the island), the United States Air Force (USAF) Radio Station inaugurated in 1966 and dismantled in 1993, after the arrival of satellite communications.

The station was built to transmit coded messages thousands of miles away during the cold war.

Sardinia is disproportionately affected by the presence of no-entry military areas; not only the Italian army but especially NATO have transformed a large part of Sardinia into bases for military operations since the 1950s.

Used for practice drills, training, testing new weapons, fuel dumping, and other destructive operations, these areas have been taken from residents, who -in addition- suffer from the extensive damage to the environment caused by these stations, which are polluting both the land and the sea.

Moreover, these stations pose a huge danger to human health, both indirectly through environmental contamination and directly due to activities that trigger the release of nanoparticles (contaminated with thorium, uranium 238, etc.), exposure to which can cause serious birth deformities and leukemia.

The abandoned radio station in Tempio Pausania is located on a panoramic location on top of an unspoiled mountain.

Eventually, locals rolled up their sleeves and cleaned after the soldiers (that’s basically what’s written on this shack, alongside an invitation to give back to Sardinians all the territories occupied by militaries); they are now waiting for proper decontamination, as the presence of lead, steel wool, copper, naphtha and other polluting substances has been detected in the area.

Find these abandoned places and many other cool spots in my Sardinia Google Map!