Sassi Ritti

Where it is: The tiny megalitic site known as Sassi Ritti is just off the hamlet of San Piero, along trail n° 135B.

The tiny site known as Sassi Ritti represents one of the most suggestive and ancient religious places of the inhabitants on the island during the Iron Age.

It is important proof of megalithism in Elba because it consists of a single structure of aniconic menhirs, that is, with no drawings or engravements, all of different heights.

It is thought that the Sassi Ritti (Upright Stones) had a religious significance linked to the inhabitants’ worship of the sun, typical of the megalitic sites in southern Sardinia (Pranu Mutteddu) and in the south of Corsica (Cauria and Palaggiu) where the lined up menhirs, that were often anthropomorphic and had drawings, are also called "filarate". In the area known as Sassi Ritti there is a great number of obsidian shards and fragments from the Monte Arci quarries in Sardinia. There is little doubt that it was precisely the Neolithic communities from central-eastern Sardinia to have brought the Megalithic culture to the Island of Elba.

A characteristic you always see is the clear northern-southern direction of the menhirs: this leads us to believe they had an obvious desire to allow the rays of the sun to shine on the larger sides of the monolyths at all times of the day.

The time of the structure in Elba is thought to date back between the III and the II millennium BC, in the later Neolithic period. The site is absolutely fascinating and sits on a plateau that looks over a splendid view of the Island of Montecristo.