A tourist village, a few minutes from splendid beaches, that emerged following a tragic event. Cardedu is the youngest Municipality in the Ogliastra region, with less than two thousand inhabitants and overlooking the Ogliastra coast. The original nucleus includes several families from Gairo that, after violent floods in the middle of the 20th century, were forced to abandon their houses in the old village of Gairo Vecchia. Some of them moved to the new Gairo and some to the plain near the sea. In the area where the village lies, there was first a scattered settlement, known as 'la borgata' (the hamlet) and then, in 1966, the homes of the families from Gairo were built around it, giving rise to the real village. Cardedu was a district of Gairo until 1984, the year in which municipal autonomy took place. In the residential area, worthy of note is the parish church of San Paolo Apostolo, inside which there is a Via Crucis, a work resulting from the multifaceted talent of Maria Lai. The municipality was formed recently, but the population has thousands of years of culture, which is deeply-rooted in Gairo Vecchio and is evident in the local skills (cutlery works, basket-weaving and food and wine), in the popular traditions and the religious celebrations.

In its territory, which has been inhabited since prehistoric times, there are various archaeological sites. Dating back to the Neolithic period, there is the Domus de Janas of Monte Arista, the Domus de Janas of Cucuddadas and the Menhirs of Costa Iba. The most evident period in the area is the Nuragic one: four Nuraghi, among which the Perda 'e Pera Nuraghe and the impressive Su Presoneddu sacred well, which is still intact.

The territory has a very varied structure: large plains, gentle hills, mountains, among which the natural oasis of Mount Ferru, as well as stretches of shoreline, with both sand and rocks. The sandy coast is nearly five kilometres long: in Marina di Cardedu you will find the beaches of Foddini, Tramalitza, Museddu and Perd 'e Pera, with a sandy seabed and light, fairly fine sand mixed with little pebbles. The waters are transparent and crystal clear. Then, a one kilometre long rocky, rugged stretch begins, which is reddish in colour, typical of the Ogliastra region, and features low Mediterranean scrub. In the southernmost part of Cardedu, there is Sa Spiaggetta, with smooth, rather large pebbles.