Until 1700, Is Arenas was a large forest of junipers and Holm oaks that are typical of the Mediterranean.
From the early eighteenth century, the area was used for consistent grazing of sheep and was subject to considerable tree felling; all this led to the deforestation of the area, giving rise to a desert of over 3,000 hectares, the only desert in Italy. Over time, the wind moved the sand to form dunes that were 50 meters high. These dunes often blocked traffic on a local state road and damaged nearby crops of olive trees and precious grapes.
In the 50s, thanks to a high naturalistic engineering intervention, the area called Is Arenas (“the sands” in Sardinian) was converted into a pine forest through the planting of different types of trees over an area of about 1100 hectares. Today, the forest is considered of great landscape value and is recognized as a Site of Community Interest (SIC), i.e. a protected area that contributes significantly to maintaining the biodiversity of the region in which it is located.