See Elephant Rock, Castelsardo, Sardinia

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The Elephant Rock is a large trachytic and andesitic boulder, with a strong rust colour, significantly eroded by atmospheric agents which have given it the singular appearance of a pachyderm in step. The rock, which is approximately four meters high, is located in the municipality of Castelsardo in the Multeddu area, at km 4.3 of the SS 134 road that connects the aforementioned municipality to Sedini. The boulder was originally part of the Monte Castellazzu rock complex, from which it broke away and rolled down the valley. In addition to a certain tourist-landscape importance, the Elephant Rock also has a notable archaeological relevance due to the two domus de janas, dating back to the pre - Nuragic period, which are housed inside it. Precisely for this last reason, together with other archaeological areas of the island, in 2025 the site was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In 1914 the scholar Edoardo Benetti was the first to associate the original shape of the rock with an elephant, which until then had been known, even in official documents, with the name in the Sardinian language Sa Pedra Pertunta (the perforated stone), an evident reference to its particular conformation. "Anyone traveling from Castelsardo along the Via Nazionale that leads to Sedini suddenly encounters a strange sight. A gigantic elephant, three times taller than the enormous prehistoric mammoths, appears to emerge from the jungle and head toward the mountain."

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