In a place of great allure and beauty outside of the city of Nuoro, a place known since remote times as Balubirde or Palu Birde, is a little country church dedicated to the Madonna. It was built in the late XVII century at the behest of a devout Nuorian lady, Nicolosa Solis Manca, who wanted to call it Nostra Signora di Valverde and to donate half of the tanca she owned in Goine to it.

On 8 September, the faithful climb up the slopes of Ortobene in a procession featuring a novena to reach the little church and thus inaugurate one of the most heartfelt of local religious festivities.

This area has, since prehistoric times, been frequented for religious reasons. There is a domu de Janas burial chamber at Borbore, also known as Valverde. It has a square courtyard you reach passing under a granite archway. The funerary chamber is unique and can also be accessed from the sides. Obsidian relics and stone axes were found here, and many believe the shrine was once used to worship water and the god Pan. Underground burial chambers, the most famous of which are the sas Birghines, were dug into the rocky slopes of Ortobene. Along the road you’ll find another fascinating church, the Nostra Signora della Solitudine built in the middle of the XX century, probably on the site of the ruins of a church from the XVII century. It is here that the Nobel author Grazia Deledda was laid to rest. She dedicated a novel to this little building, which has also been embellished with a bronze door designed by the artist Eugenio Tavolara.