The village is called Ruins: that is exactly what Ruinas means in Sardinian, and the local form Arruinas is the one the comune has officially adopted. It stands at the door of the Barbagia, and the speech here is «sa limba de mesania», the middle tongue: Campidanese words and Logudorese words together.
The stone here is pink trachyte, and it is still quarried. In the countryside there are domus de janas, nuraghi, the standing stone of Macchetturu and the remains of a village, Ghentiana, Roman first and then Byzantine. In the middle ages this belonged to the giudicato of Arborea; later it fell into the barony of Senis, fief of the Nin Zatrillas, and bought itself free in 1839. The Araxisi, the largest tributary of the Tirso, divides Ruinas from Samugheo.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Ruinas
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Ruinas, but an easy day trip away.