Porto Conte Park Ecomuseum

The Porto Conte Park Ecomuseum in Alghero, Sardinia, offers an integrated experience of nature, history, and culture, featuring attractions like Casa Gioiosa, M.A.S.E., M.A.P.S., Le Prigionette wildlife oasis, and the Roman Villa of Sant’Imbenia.

Planning your visit

The Porto Conte Park Ecomuseum is a network rather than a building — the ecomuseum model treats an entire territory as the collection, covering its landscape, archaeology, ecology and human history together.

Casa Gioiosa, a former prison farm, is the visitor centre. M.A.S.E. covers the marine environment of the protected area, and M.A.P.S. the palaeontology of the Sardinian northwest, including material from Neanderthal-era caves.

Le Prigionette, known as the Arca di Noè, is a wildlife oasis holding white donkeys, Giara horses and Sardinian deer in Mediterranean scrub, walkable on marked trails.

The Roman villa at Sant'Imbenia sits on the bay, and the coast around Capo Caccia holds Neptune's Grotto, reached by boat or by a long stone stair down the cliff.

Alghero itself retains Catalan language and architecture from centuries of Aragonese rule. Allow half a day. Current availability is shown below.