Capo Testa, on the Northern coast of Sardinia, allows for the imagination to wander.

Taking a hike along the rugged granite coast is akin to staring at the clouds and defining their changing shapes. Some people see a shark’s mouth or a mushroom, while others might see human face smoothed out by nature’s forces.

For thousands of years, the powerful wind over the Mediterranean has shaped Capo Testa. Rocks have smoothed from the sea breeze, and some have even curled and contorted into formation. As the closest Sardinian shore to Rome, Capo Testa was at one point used for mining granite. The Romans set up a small town around their pits, and extracted large amounts of the stone for building structures in their capitol.

Today there are few traces of the Romans, but the modified shoreline still attracts many visitors for a hike or picnic on the Mediterranean. The rocky coast is also ideal for swimming, drawing many tourists to the calm and blue-green pools formed around Capo Testa.