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Moving along the coast of Ogliastra, over 50 kilometres divided into four legs and marked by clear landmarks, the coastal towers that stand out on the cliffs, once defensive bastions and today panoramic observation points. The itinerary takes you from the Aragonese tower of Sarrala in Marina di Tertenia, along the coasts of Gairo, Cardedu and Barì Sardo, as far as Arbatax and, lastly, at Santa Maria Navarrese, the seaside village of Baunei. You can stop for a rest in these seaside locations and taste the delicacies that arrive ‘fresh’ from the sea and the land and are part of the ‘centenarians’ diet’. After the first leg in the wild greenery of Monte Ferru you can follow the outline of the coast. While walking along cliffs and enchanting beaches, you’ll come across prehistoric legacies and feel thrilled during the first few kilometres of the most popular trekking trail in Europe that looks out over Gulf of Orosei. If the sea of Ogliastra enchants you and the Supramonte leaves you spellbound, you’ll be coming back to this area.

Itinerary: 60 Km

Journey time: about 15 hours, spread over 4 days

At first glance, you will be struck by the fairy-tale atmosphere of the forest, equipped with a convenient picnic area. Then, going up along the path, first you’ll see a small church appear with a spectacular open-air altar next to it, then you’ll see a nuraghe, more hidden by the surrounding vegetation. All this is found inside the Monte Sant’Antonio Park, a small oasis just eight kilometres from Macomer. The origin of the elevation is volcanic and it has an altitude of about 800 metres. On its slopes, there is a green area of 277 hectares, mainly made up of downy oaks, but you will also see cork oak groves and reforestation of holm oaks and chestnut trees, where wild rabbits, Sardinian hares, foxes, wild boars and martens roam.

The forest is crossed by paths ideal for hiking trips and it also contains an area equipped with tables with barbecue facilities next to them. Continuing south, you will reach the top of the mountain, where a country church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua stands. The the sanctuary was built by a married couple from Macomer and the building work began in 1644. It is the site of a heartfelt celebration organised every year by a committee made up of forty-year-old fedales. Around the church, you will notice a series of engravings on stone slabs depicting scenes of the via crucis (way of the cross), while an altar stands out, over a small staircase, above which there is a majestic statue of the Virgin Mary with child, positioned behind it.

On 12 June, the citizens of Macomer accompany the wooden simulacrum of the saint from the Parish Church of San Pantaleo to the country church, on a journey of thirteen kilometres. The following day, the real celebration takes place, with songs, shows, banquets and stalls, where you can taste typical local products. On 14 June, the statue returns to Macomer, accompanied by horsemen and riflemen in costume.

The surprises don’t end here: to the west, a small path through the vegetation will take you to the single-tower nuraghe of Sant’Antonio, with an elliptical-shaped room and a tholos roof. From the top, you can admire a splendid panorama that includes not only the forest below but also a view of Montiferru and Planargia, up to the Abbasanta plateau and the Gennargentu mountains.

Your archaeological tour of Macomer continues as you move a few kilometres further on to the Park of Tamuli. Here, in addition to the complex nuraghe and the surrounding village, you will see three Giants’ Tombs, almost aligned - perhaps oriented according to the movement of the sun during the day - and near which there are six mysterious anthropomorphic baetyls, positioned in two groups: the first depicting the male element, the second with the baetyls decorated with breast-like shapes, representing the female element, the origin of life.

More than an exhibition space, it’s a ‘treasure chest’ containing the memory and cultural identity of Aritzo and the villages on the western side of the Gennargentu. The Ecomuseum of the Sardinian Mountains is organised as a scattered museum, inside a village in the Barbagia di Belvì region, with its ‘epicentre’ in the ethnographic museum. You will find it surrounded by the greenery of the Pastissu park, proving the unbreakable bond between community and natural heritage, hence the name ‘ecomuseum’. Through the exhibition’s eight rooms, you will discover domestic environments, ancient trades, feminine ‘know-how’ and the use of resources offered by nature, without neglecting the relationship with spirituality and magical-religious beliefs.

Your journey begins by deepening your knowledge of the topic of pastoral culture. The first room describes the milk processing procedure and care of livestock. The most unusual object on display is su Giuramentu, a group of medallions with sacred images and a crucifix, used until a few decades ago to settle disputes regarding grazing and livestock. The second room shows two distinctive elements of the village: forest products, especially chestnuts, and the ancient activity of ‘travelling merchants’. The renowned products of Aritzo were often found in festivals and markets: nougat, wooden artefacts, hazelnuts, chestnuts and carapigna, a typical lemon sorbet made using ice obtained from snow. The third room is dedicated to wool. Every phase of its processing is described right up to the finished products, among which the colourful traditional clothes stand out. The fourth room represents a wax processing and candle production laboratory. You can continue by ‘entering’ a traditional home, with a kitchen, bread-making and chestnut-processing tools, equipment for taking care of linens, a collection of carved trunks and objects for children, such as cribs, walkers and toys. Trunks are the protagonists again in room 6: in particular, a type of carved trunk known as the ‘Aritzo trunk’ or the ‘Barbaricina trunk’, a traditional element of the wedding trousseau, is on display. The next rooms explore the Aritzo landscapes: the forest and its resources – fruit and wood –, agriculture and the activity of blacksmiths and farriers.

The other exhibitions linked to the ecomuseum will take you back in time: at Casa Devilla you can admire a home that belonged to a wealthy middle-glass family in the 19th century, while the Antonio Mura Museum exhibits works by the Aritzo-born painter, rich in references to the traditions and landscapes of Sardinia. Lastly, you will visit the Spanish prisons of sa Bovida, where there is a permanent exhibition on the subject of witchcraft and the Inquisition between the 15th and 17th centuries.

Its appearance is solemn, like that of a cathedral. The church of Nostra Signora d’Itria is located eight kilometres east of Gavoi and what makes it special is the festive atmosphere and the hospitality that can be felt when the sanctuary and the cumbessias around it open up to the pilgrims, novena participants and visitors, especially during the celebration at the end of July, dedicated to the Madonna of Itria. The area in which the novenary is located has always been considered sacred: in fact, various archaeological evidence emerges in its surroundings: gigantic walls, Domus de Janas, Tombs of Giants and a few menhirs. In particular, sa Perda de sa Itria stands out. It is a granite monolith about four metres high, devoid of figurative elements and lodged in the green ‘garden’ to the south of the church, on the side not occupied by the cumbessias.

Sa Itria, as the people of Gavoi call it, stands on the Lidana plateau. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century on the site of a small church dedicated to the Virgin of Itria. There is no information about the previous sanctuary, except for an inscription on a bell kept inside the current church, which would confirm its title and testify to its existence at least in the mid-16th century. You can admire a building of considerable size, made of square blocks of granite, with a rectangular layout and an apse facing north-east. The façade is gabled, with an architraved portal above which there is a circular window. You will notice other windows on the sides, which are semicircular in shape and framed in mirrors punctuated by pilasters. Around it, positioned in a horseshoe shape, you will observe the cumbessias made of granite ashlars, surrounded by greenery. The novena and the procession come before the feast of Nostra Signora d’Itria, one of the most heartfelt by the inhabitants of Gavoi, on the last Sunday in July. The churchyard comes alive with dancing, singing and games, while fellow villagers and visitors are welcomed into the lodgings, transforming the novenary into a sort of village ‘district’ ​​for ten days. The main event is su Palu de sa Itria, on Sunday afternoon: the palio has very ancient origins, dating back to 1388 - the year of the signing of the peace treaty between Eleanor of Arborea and John I of Aragon - and takes place in a natural ‘amphitheatre’ next to the sanctuary. Other tests of skill on horseback take place on Monday and Tuesday, while Wednesday is the day of sa ghirada a caddu, or the return to the village on horseback.

Gavoi is a town rich in attractions and traditions, which has received the Bandiera Arancione (Orange Flag) award from the Touring Club, and is ‘immersed’ in a breathtaking natural setting. Don't miss the carnival, during which there is a parade of tumbarinos – typical Gavoi drummers -, the stage of Autumn in Barbagia and the prestigious literary festival L'Isola delle Storie (Island of Stories).

“The path that leads from Fonni to the mountain first runs past the foot of a small hill two kilometres from the village, on which the Church of Nostra Signora del Monte stands; every year, a big celebration takes place there with a large crowd”. This description is by General Alberto Della Marmora, one of the most prestigious ‘travellers’ in 19th-century Sardinia, in the passage on his ‘Itinerary of the island of Sardinia’ in which he describes the landscapes around Gennargentu. The sanctuary is less than five kilometres south of Fonni and is worth visiting, for various reasons: along with the Madonna della Neve (Madonna of the Snow) by Desulo – on the Tascusì pass -, Nostra Signora di Gonare between Orani and Sarule and Madonna della Neve on Monte Limbara in Tempio Pausania, it is the church located at the highest altitude in Sardinia (about a thousand metres). Furthermore, from the nearby lookout, you’ll see a breathtaking view embracing the peaks of Gennargentu, the basin of Lake Govossai and the Pratobello plain.

It is not just the surrounding landscape that makes Nostra Signora de su Monte – or also Madonna della Visitazione, two other names by which the church is known -, a stop not to be missed during a visit to Fonni: next to the church there are two rows of cumbessias or muristenes, typical lodgings for pilgrims and novena participants, especially during the festival also mentioned by General Della Marmora. The celebrations are traditionally organised by families from Fonni and include a novena, a procession and folklore shows. The ‘care’ dedicated to the church by private individuals has ancient origins: around the 17th century there was only a small chapel with a simulacrum of the Madonna, but later on it was extended thanks to the activity of lay families, who also handled its administration. In the first half of the 20th century, its custody passed to the diocese of Nuoro: the original building was demolished in 1976 and rebuilt in its current form.

Nostra Signora del Monte is one of the stops along La Via dei Santuari (Route of the Sanctuaries), through twenty novenas in the centre-north of the Island, from Cabras to Santa Teresa Gallura. You can also include it in an itinerary for discovering the archaeological and natural treasures of Fonni. A few steps away from the sanctuary, the remains of a nuraghe of the same name emerge, while the main evidence of the Bronze Age is found to the east, near the Correboi pass: the necropolis of Madau and the Nuragic Sanctuary of Gremanu. Along the way, on the right, the peaks of Monte Spada and Bruncu Spina stand out against the sky.

It is one of the most ‘technically’ well-finished nuraghi on the island, thanks to the level the Bronze Age builders reached when working and finishing the stone ashlars. The single-tower Nuraghe Corbos was built on a small hill seven kilometres from Silanus, between the plateau of the same name and the Ottana plain, in ana area dense with evidence dating back to the Nuragic age. You will see a truncated cone tower about twelve metres high, built using medium-sized skilfully-worked basalt blocks: in the first rows they are polygonal, while from the middle upwards they are roughly square-shaped and the exposed side is slightly convex.

The position of the architrave above the entrance is almost level with the walking surface. In fact, the collapsed stones have buried more than a metre of the tower. Nevertheless, access is possible through a breach on the west side, obtained by removing an ashlar, which leads to the staircase connecting the ground floor and the upper level.

In the access corridor you will notice the passageway niche and the staircase, lit up through three slits. The central chamber has a tholos vault and three niches positioned in the form of a cross. The staircase, a few rows of which still remain, led to the upper room that has a diameter of about three metres.

Traces of walls pertaining to the village emerge around the building. The area must have been frequented starting in the pre-Nuragic age: an isolated menhir, unusually made of granite, seems to bear witness to this, embedded in the ground about a hundred metres from the nuraghe in the north-easterly direction. At the same distance, but in the opposite direction, you will find the Corbos Giants’ Tomb. It is thought that it was a dolmen building, perhaps renovated at a later time. Also in the corridor of the tomb there is an ‘intruder’: one of the orthostates is made of granite. Next to the tomb you will see five baetyls, positioned irregularly and probably moved over time. Three hundred metres from the nuraghe are the remains of another Giants’ Tomb, called s’Abbaia. Traces of the funeral chamber, over eleven metres long, and of the right wing of the exedra still remain.

The territory of Silanus, a village belonging to the Borghi Autentici d’Italia club, is an open-air archaeological museum: it has more than 30 nuraghi, 19 Giants’ Tombs, five domus de Janas and a sacred well, as well as several fences and sacred fonts. Among the most significant are the Nuraghe Orolio (or Madrone), the Giants’ Tomb of Sa Pedra Longa – which is where the baetyls visible in the churchyard of the Church of San Lorenzo come from - and above all the complex of Santa Sabina, in which a nuraghe and a Byzantine church face each other a few dozen metres away.

It rivals the cemetery of Bonaria in Cagliari with its atmosphere and dark charm of the funeral works, so much so that it too is defined an ‘open-air museum’. Both also boast masterpieces created by the sculptor nicknamed ‘The Michelangelo of the dead’. The monumental cemetery of Iglesias extends close to the Church of Nostra Signora di Valverde, outside the city walls. It was inaugurated in 1835 and was extended several times starting from the second half of the 19th century, due to the progressive increase in population. The large central body is characterised by avenues with rows of cypress trees and Mediterranean plant species along the sides, creating quadrangular ‘islands’ and dedicated areas. One of these is delimited by what may be the best-known and most enchanting path, the ‘Viale dei Bambini’ (Avenue of the Children).

You will see statues and decorations in Art Nouveau and eclectic styles, also visible in the fences, urns and floral decorations, among which you will notice unusual symbolisms. The most famous work is the sepulchral monument of the little Zaira Deplano Pinna, known above all by the name of ‘Little Girl with a Hoop’. Daughter of a very well-known notary of the town, the little girl was stricken with acute meningitis, which ended her life at the tender age of six. The life-size statue portrays her sitting on a segment of a column. She is smiling and holding a hoop, her favourite pastime, which is made of bronze. Over time, dark legends arose around the tomb: it is said that the statue comes to life at midnight to play along the avenues and that the ghost wanders over the rooftops of the houses, every year on 2 November, in search of children who want to play with her, taking those who accept the invitation with her to the afterlife.

The work helped increase the fame of its author, sculptor Giuseppe Sartorio, who opened workshops in Cagliari and Sassari and created numerous works, now kept in the capital city and in various towns across the Island, as well as in the Verano cemetery in Rome. The cemetery of Iglesias contains 65 of them and the monument dedicated to Quintino Sella in the square of the same name in the city is also his work. Other sculptures by Sartorio are the funeral monuments of the Boldetti sisters and that of Domenica Antonietta Grimaldi, who also suffered a tragic fate.

It is a technological jewel, constantly updated and essential for revealing the mysteries of space and allowing science to make important steps forward. The Sardinia Radio Telescope is a single-dish radio telescope, located in Pranu Sanguni, nine kilometres from the village of San Basilio and 40 km from Cagliari. The site, managed by the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory on behalf of the Italian Institute of Astrophysics, was inaugurated in 2013 and emerged as a research tool also available to the Italian Space Agency. Among the celestial objects that it is able to observe, there are galaxies, black holes, planetary nebulae, neutron stars and pulsars. You can admire a dish with a 64-metre diameter, composed of over a thousand aluminium panels that can move independently, thus allowing the antenna to adapt to the different focal positions of the receivers.

Not only physical elements: the telescope is also involved in the search for signals defined as non-natural, or coming from extraterrestrial sources. The Sardinia Radio Telescope is, in fact, involved in the SETI – Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence - project, through the Breakthrough Listen programme, along with other telescopes from around the world. Furthermore, through the Italian Space Agency, the San Basilio telescope also collaborates with NASA and will be able to provide its contribution to guaranteeing communications during the next missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as tracking satellites and monitoring space debris.

Today, the Sardinia Radio Telescope is the most powerful Italian radio telescope and one of the largest in Europe, as well as one of the most technologically advanced telescopes in the world. This is also thanks to its new ‘glasses’: in 2023, Mistral, a receiver with 415 detectors that operate simultaneously, was installed, allowing us to observe celestial phenomena such as galaxy clusters and gas filaments between clusters, consequently deepening our knowledge of the dark matter of the universe.

During a visit, which you can book through the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory website, researchers, technicians and communicators at the observatory will tell you about all the interesting facts and various aspects of the research project, before taking you for a walk to see the radio telescope up close, located at an altitude of 700 metres, and observe the sky, trying to imagine new and exciting astronomical discoveries.

It is one of the sources of pride in a city that, thanks to its artistic and cultural ferment, has earned itself the title of ‘Sardinian Athens’. The National Archaeological Museum of Nuoro, dedicated to the intellectual and political figure of Giorgio Asproni, is located in the historic centre of the main city of Barbagia, a stone’s throw from the Cathedral of Nostra Signora della Neve. The exhibition is located inside a historical 19th century neoclassical-style building that belonged to Asproni himself. It was inaugurated in 2002, but contains a collection with a decidedly older history: the collection dates back to the early 20th century, when Canon Mauro Sale entrusted the objects in his possession to the Municipality of Nuoro. Thanks to donations from private individuals and the activity of the Gruppo Grotte Nuorese, the ‘speleo-archaeological civic museum’ opened in 1978 and, after closure and integration of the collection following further excavation campaigns, led to the emergence of the present-day museum.

The exhibition maintains its dual archaeological and palaeontological nature: starting from the evidence of vertebrates from Monte Tuttavista in Galtellì and from Grotta Corbeddu in Oliena, you will find yourself travelling through time, with Palaeolithic and Neolithic artefacts, objects dating back to the Copper Age and a rich Nuragic collection, including artefacts from the sacred well of Su Tempiesu in Orune and from the village of sa Sedda 'e sos Carros in Oliena. Regarding the latter, you can admire the reconstruction of its spectacular circular well. There is no shortage of evidence from the Phoenician-Punic and Roman eras, with materials also recovered from the depths of the sea. The journey ends with the Middle Ages, represented by artefacts found in the Castello della Fava in Posada. One of the main attractions is the reconstruction of the tomb and of the funeral objects of Sisaia, a woman who lived in the early Bronze Age (2200-1800 BC) in the territory of Dorgali, famous as evidence of the most ancient cranial drilling achieved on the Island.

One of the fascinating features of Nuoro is its varied cultural attractions. Walking for a few hundred metres, you will reach the MAN – Museum of Art of the province of Nuoro. Inside, works by the greatest Sardinian artists, like Nivola, Lai, Delitala and Ciusa, coexist with contemporary trends. In the outskirts, there is the ethnographic museum, where you can gain a deeper knowledge of Sardinian material culture, with objects, masks, clothes, musical instruments and toys. A stop at the birthplace of the most famous Nuoro-born personality in the world, Grazia Deledda, is a must. It has now become the Grazia Deledda Museum. Lastly, the open-air museum in Piazza Satta, ‘created' by Costantino Nivola, is worth a visit.

The church, the enclosed courtyard and accommodation for the hermits - known as the ‘hermitage’- belonged to a monastic order, as confirmed by medieval sources, but it is not known with certainty which one. Furthermore, even the date engraved on an ashlar on the façade is the subject of debate. These two elements are enough to describe the aura of charm and mystery surrounding the church of Santa Maria di Cea, located in a valley six kilometres from Banari. The area was an important centre of wine production in Roman times, after which it was abandoned for ten centuries. In fact, sources mention the village of Seve and the priory of Santa Maria as existing in the 12th century. It was commonly thought that the convent belonged to the Vallombrosians; in reality, however, no medieval document mentions it among the estates of the Benedictine order. The association began to appear in the 16th century, when the monastery was joined to that of San Michele di Salvennor, coming back to life after centuries of abandonment.

One theory, supported by inscriptions and a tau symbol engraved on the façade, as well as documents from the 14th century, suggests that it belonged to a military-knightly order, that of the Knights Hospitaller of Altopascio. On the façade, there are three epigraphs that are difficult to interpret: one, in particular, shows a date, but the last two characters are quite unclear, making it difficult to read: it could be 1250, 1260 or 1261. The building style is Romanesque, constructed with limestone ashlars; the apse faces east and the façade is divided by a cornice. In line with the main portal, you will notice a window and the bell gable. On the north side, there is a second entrance, called the ‘holy door’, through which only the monks entered. It has is a single-nave layout with a trussed roof dating back to work carried out in 1973, perhaps respecting a previous model, although the idea that the church hall was originally barrel-vaulted cannot be ruled out.

The courtyard contains the remains of structures from the old monastery: traces of room perimeters, an oven to the north and, in the centre, the well, around which you will see sections of the original cobblestone flooring.

The feast of Santa Maria takes place around 8 September and lasts two days, with processions and celebrations in the churchyard. Another opportunity to visit Banari and taste its typical products is the renowned festival of the golden onion, in July.