At first sight, from afar, it looks like a shining gem, its sparkling water nestled between mountains that, together with the rocky outcrops, create spectacular contrasts of light and shade. Medio Flumendosa lake is the catch basin of the eponymous river, which flows through the south-central part of Sardinia for 127 km. The river is cut by two dams. The first one is the six kilometre long, 1½ km wide Bau Muggeris gorge at an altitude of 800 metres while the second dam created the spectacular Flumendosa lake, a 17 km long and 500 metre wide basin in the Sarcidano and Barbagia di Seulo area constructed at an altitude of 268 metres in 1952 to generate energy and irrigate the fields of the Campidano region.