A single-towered nuraghe stands close to the innermost part of the Gulf of Porto Conte, datable to the 14th century B.C., which over the course of time became the central point of the surrounding village. The 1982-1997 excavations had uncovered a series of important structures (the hut “of the cupboards”, “with basin”, “of the niches”, etc.) and, based on the results, a relationship between a local community and traders from the East who arrived in this area at the beginning of the first millennium B.C. was suggested. In 2007, the re-opening of the excavation in the central area revealed what appeared to be an oval public space surrounded by buildings and open spaces that seemed to represent a new urban layout. Numerous rooms faced onto the space, some of which closed and these were concentrated in the southern sector. In one room, a floor was exposed in which there was a jar containing copper oxhide ingots, axes and a bronze sword hilt. This, as in the two published examples from the site, was a “store” of material possibly indicating that the room was where exchanges took place. This sector of Sant’Imbenia can be interpreted as the commercial heart not only of this settlement but also of a wider territory. Products arrived here that were exchanged between groups of people living in this part of the Nurra and the traders arriving in this part of Sardinia from the East from the mid 9th century B.C. onwards. The exchanges took place in the open space, while the _insulae_, which the excavation and related study are reconstructing, may have functioned as “trading agencies” for each of the villages that were part of the system. If this interpretation is correct, the site of Sant’Imbenia not only would have been the place delegated for commerce and exchange with foreign traders but could also be seen as the central catalyst for the economy of southern Nurra. In this case, the site might be interpreted as the primary centre of convergence for the economy of a particular area, also acting as a sort of port of trade and gateway community: it produces and exports wine, it holds oxhide ingots in its treasury and is the focal point of a highly structured territory with a complex organisation. It transforms itself and takes on what, in short, appear to be the characteristics of the beginning of a process echoing the urban processes on mainland Italy and in other Mediterranean cultures. These processes were the response to the transformations occurring in those societies at the ends of the 10th century B.C. that had to respond to stimuli triggered by the exchanges (economic, but also theological and cultural) with other worlds. This is the beginning of the discovery of a new world in Sardinia, one whose structure and organisation can only be understood by looking at the society that these transformations created.