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CULTURE AND TERRITORY
Seui is a mountainous village of medieval origins, terrace-shaped by
the side of the two main streets, the one parallel to the other. Such a position forced the population to build very unusual
architectural structures: the small houses present front entrances that sometimes vary in height because of the configuration
of the land. If you are quite willing to put the clock back, take a walk along the steep and tiny streets of the village: you
will admire schist-stone façades, wrought-iron balconies, hanging balconies, even a fine Art-Nouveau building and
decorous nineteenth-century small buildings.
Once, all the territory of Seui was covered with a luxuriant forest of holm-oaks; nowadays, only the forest
of Montarbu survives, extending to the south of Tonneri Mountains, which consist of a series
of rocks characterized by perpendicular cuts on one side. Among the various specimens of flora and fauna that such an amazing naturalistic oasis
contains, the rarest one is the wild peony, called “gennargentu rose” due to its beautiful flower.
Moreover, this land is full of natural bowels; one of these is in the forest of Montarbu, precisely in Cerasia place. It measures
850 metres, partly open to the public, partly open only to experts.
In 1827 General Alberto La Marmora discovered in the territory of Seui a mine of anthracite. For a century and more, it represented
a source of wealth; nowadays, there are only a deserted mining village and a coal washer structure
left, both open to the public. Another piece of industrial archeology is the railway, the only one in the world that has a
shorter gauge. In fact, the line Arbatax-Mandas-Arbatax is still crossed by the “train in the wilderness”:
travelling on it is a wild ad unique experience among the most uncontaminated nature.
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