Along the wild Costa Verde in the municipality of Arbus stretches a monumental dune complex that gives visitors the illusion of stepping straight into the Sahara Desert. The dunes of Piscinas are among the tallest and most extensive sand formations in Europe, rivaled only by a few sites along France’s Atlantic coast. The creation of this desert-like landscape is tied to the unrelenting force of the prevailing Mistral winds and a long mining history: intense extraction activities freed vast amounts of loose sediment that nature subsequently swept inland and shaped. The visual contrast is breathtaking: golden hills dotted with ancient juniper trees sweep directly down to the clear waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.