Nuoro

Nuoro is the capital of Barbagia and the cultural heart of inland Sardinia. It stands at almost six hundred metres on a granite plateau beneath Monte Ortobene, and it is a small city of just over thirty thousand people, but with an importance far beyond its size. In the early 20th century it was called the Sardinian Athens, because within a few years writers, poets and artists who told the world about Sardinia were born or lived here: Grazia Deledda, Nobel laureate in literature, the poet Sebastiano Satta, the sculptor Francesco Ciusa, the jurist and writer Salvatore Satta. Today Nuoro is a city of museums and living traditions, and the ideal starting point for discovering Barbagia, the Supramonte and the Orosei coast.

From shepherds' village to provincial capital

Nuoro's territory holds many nuragic remains, but for centuries the settlement was a village of shepherds and farmers, divided into two quarters: Santu Predu, the upper quarter of the shepherds, and Seuna, the lower quarter of the farmers. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the Giudicato of Torres and then Arborea; under the Spanish and the House of Savoy it remained a country village, far from the coastal cities.

Everything changed in the 19th century. Already a bishop's seat since the late 18th century, in 1836 Nuoro was granted the title of city; soon after came the law courts, schools and the railway. A small middle class of lawyers, notaries and teachers grew up, and with it a lively cultural season. In 1927 Nuoro became a provincial capital. After the Second World War the city grew, but the old centre keeps its granite houses, its lanes and the atmosphere described in the novels.

Grazia Deledda

Grazia Deledda was born in Nuoro in 1871, in the Santu Predu quarter, to a well-off family. With no schooling beyond primary school, she began very young to write stories and novels set in her land, among shepherds, bandits, forbidden loves and feelings of guilt. She moved to Rome, but Sardinia remained the centre of her work: Elias Portolu, Reeds in the Wind, Ashes, The Mother. In 1926 she received the Nobel Prize for Literature, still the only Italian woman to have done so.

Her birthplace in the old town is now a museum that recreates the family's rooms, with the kitchen, bedrooms and courtyard, and tells the story of her life and work. Grazia Deledda is buried in the church of the Solitudine at the foot of Monte Ortobene, in a black granite sarcophagus.

Museums

For such a small city, Nuoro has a surprising number of museums. The Costume Museum, part of the regional ethnographic institute on the hill of Sant'Onofrio, is Sardinia's most important ethnographic museum: it displays hundreds of traditional costumes from every village on the island, jewellery, textiles, masks, musical instruments and ritual breads. It is the best place to grasp the variety of Sardinian traditions.

The MAN, the art museum of the province of Nuoro, is one of Italy's most active contemporary art museums, with a collection of 20th-century Sardinian artists and major international exhibitions. The Museo Ciusa shows the works of the Nuoro sculptor Francesco Ciusa, including The Mother of the Slain Man, shown at the Venice Biennale in 1907 and an icon of Sardinian grief. The National Archaeological Museum holds finds from Barbagia from prehistory to the Middle Ages.

The centre and Piazza Satta

The old town revolves around Corso Garibaldi, the main promenade, with 19th-century buildings, historic cafés and shops. Nearby is Piazza Sebastiano Satta, dedicated to the Nuoro poet: in the 1960s the sculptor Costantino Nivola, born in nearby Orani, completely redesigned it, whitewashing the house fronts and placing large granite boulders in the square, set with small bronze statues of the poet. It is one of Sardinia's most original examples of public art.

The cathedral of Santa Maria della Neve, built in the 19th century in neoclassical style, dominates the quarter with its façade and great flight of steps. The lanes of Santu Predu and Seuna, with low granite houses, courtyards and murals, keep the character of the old village.

Monte Ortobene

Monte Ortobene, almost a thousand metres high, is Nuoro's mountain, a few minutes from the centre. A scenic road climbs through holm oak woods and great granite boulders to the summit, where the bronze statue of the Redeemer stands, raised in 1901 and the goal of the pilgrimage of the Redentore festival at the end of August. From the top the view sweeps over the Supramonte, the Cedrino valley, Oliena and, on clear days, as far as the sea. Along the road there are picnic areas, trails and the little church of Nostra Signora del Monte.

Festivals

The most important festival is the Redentore at the end of August, with the great parade of traditional costumes from all over Sardinia, the parade of masks, the folk festival and the dawn pilgrimage up Ortobene. In early May the night pilgrimage to the sanctuary of San Francesco di Lula sets off from Nuoro. Nearby are the Barbagia Carnival with the Mamuthones of Mamoiada and the fires of Sant'Antonio in January, and in autumn Autumn in Barbagia, in a different village every weekend.

Food

Nuoro's food is that of the Barbagia shepherds: roast suckling pig, lamb and kid, sheep's cheeses, cured meats, carasau and guttiau bread, culurgiones and maccarrones de busa, handmade pasta rolled around an iron rod. Nuoro is also the city of su filindeu, the finest pasta, made by very few women, and of aranzada, a sweet of orange peel, honey and almonds. The surrounding hills produce Cannonau, especially at Oliena and Mamoiada.

Around Nuoro

Nuoro lies at the centre of some of Sardinia's most beautiful places. Ten minutes away is Oliena, at the foot of the Supramonte, with the Su Gologone spring and the Lanaitto valley, from which you climb to the nuragic village of Tiscali. Half an hour away are Orgosolo, with its murals, Mamoiada, with its mask museum, and Orani, with the Nivola Museum. In under an hour you reach the sea at Orosei and Cala Gonone, in the municipality of Dorgali, where boats leave for Cala Luna and the Bue Marino caves. Inland you climb to the Gennargentu, with Fonni, Sardinia's highest village.

Getting there

Nuoro is reached by car on the SS131 DCN highway, which links it to Olbia in about an hour and to Cagliari and Sassari in two and a half hours. The nearest airport is Olbia. The city has a small railway station linked to Macomer and regional buses to all the villages of the province. To explore Barbagia, however, a car is essential. Nuoro is worth visiting in any season: in summer it is cooler than the coast, and in autumn and winter it is the time of village festivals and traditions.

What to see

• House natale di Grazia Deledda
• Museum: del costume
• MAN Museo d'arte della provincia di Nuoro
• Mount Ortobene e la statua del Redentore
• Cathedral of Santa Maria della Neve
• Borgo di Lollove

Festivals and traditions

• Sagra del Redentore, fine agostoAugust

Festival features

Nearby hikes

• Tiscali16 km
• Gola di Su Gorropu21 km
• Da Cala Fuili a Cala Luna27 km

Nearby towns

• Oliena · 9 km
• Orune · 10 km
• Mamoiada · 13 km
• Orgosolo · 13 km
• Oniferi · 15 km
• Orani · 15 km
• Sarule · 17 km
• Bitti · 17 km

Sources: Grande Enciclopedia della Sardegna; ISTAT. Original texts by Gotosardinia.