A naturalistic corner of heaven
The Ogliastra is surely one of the most beautiful and suggestive areas in Sardinia. It is a various territory where you can admire both its impassable and fascinating mountains of the Gennargentu massif and and extraordinary coast full of wonderful coves and beaches. The territory looks like a huge amphitheatre looking out on the Tyrrenian Sea and it is bounded by the Supramonte and the river Codula di Luna, in the north, and by the tabular mountains of Jerzu and the hills of the Salto di Quirra, in the south.
The area is 1.848 Kmq wide and consists of plains and dizzy mountains that make tha view very suggestive. All tourists love the unforgettable landscapes of the Ogliastra mountains and sea; in fact, some of them prefer spending their holidays in the total peacefulness of the mountains, whereas others adore sunbathing under the warm sun of amazing beaches.
The coast consists of a series of high rectilinear cliffs, wide inlets without dockings and low and sandy seafloors, whereas the inland is very rich in large woods of holm-oaks, chestnuts, yews, oaks, millenarian olive-trees and marine pines.
The woods themselves are a safe environment for lots of animals, such as fallow-deers, deers, moufflons, wild boars, hares, rabbits, patridges and quails, as well. Also the rivers and the sea are full of different kind of fish: in the rivers it is possible to fish some trouts and carps, whereas the sea is full of lobsters, gilthead breams, groupers, polyps, sargoes, basses and others.
The geological origin of Ogliastra belongs to the ancient Mesozoic and Jurassic Eras (about 155 millions years ago); its land is rich in minerals, volcanic rocks and particular cliffs of red porphyry, unique in the world. Thanks to its environmental features and, obviously, to the presence of the equipped harbour of Arbatax and the small airport of Tortolì, the area has been visited by lots of tourists for years.
Every year thousands of visitors disembark in Sardinia to visit the most rappresentative sites of the area and to know their traditions, uses, customs and above all two different economic realities: the pastoral one of the mountains, and the agricultural one of the coast, that takes advantage of a good climate for all the products of the land, mild in the winter and hot in the summer.
The accomodation facilities of the area are very important for the development of tourism, and they are increasing and improving year by year. In fact, all tourists have the possibility to find accomodation in a large number of interesting and cheap hotels and residences. In short, the Ogliastra is the ideal place for people who want to spend some original holidays inside the beauties of nature, a corner of paradise placed on the eastern coast of Sardinia.
The prenuragical and nuragical Ogliastra
The traces of the first human settlements in Ogliastra go back to the Neolithic Era and they have been found inside the caves of the Supramonte di Baunei. Anyway, the prehistorical men used to live along the coast and in the coves, eating vegetables, game and fish. But the continuous piratical raids forced them to move inwards and to give birth to the first mountain towns where they began to practise the agriculture and the sheep-rearing.
Some important finds of the area testify the pagan worship of some pre-nuragical populations. They are tools of different kinds, various size amphoras and arrows points, as well. In addition, the Ogliastra is particularly rich in Nuraghi, amazing and suggestive forts, and in Tombe dei Giganti, very interesting burials that testify the presence of a large number of people in the area.
The nuraghe is a very well-known Sardinian symbol. It is actually the most representative monument that recalls its millenary history. Its construction is particularly impressive: it was built by the dry-stone tecnique, without any cohesive material, and it can reach about 20 metres of height. So, it seems unbelievable that they have survived completely up to our times. They represent a real prehistoric architectural jewel and document the high developmental level reached by the bronze civilisation.
From the Roman conquest to the contemporary age
During the VII century B.C. the Phoenicians, the Punics and, later, the Romans invaded the territory and left some traces of their settlements along the coast. After the Sardinian conquest of the Pisans, in 1323 the island was occupied by the Aragonese, who built numerous coastal towers and country churches, nowdays still intact.
In the XII century Sardinia was divided in judicatory areas and the Ogliastra belonged to the one of Cagliari. Only at the beginning of the XIII century the Pisans, before being expelled from the island by the Aragonese, made the Ogliastra an indipendent judicatory area.
Anyway, for centuries the Ogliastra history was not different from the one of Sardinia in general, until the Piedmontese conquered the island and began to destroy the original thick woods of the area.
During the milleniums, the various populations who settled down in Sardinia always took possession of its treasures, its woods and its sea. In change they received something, the malaria and the plague, two terrible illnesses that forced all of them to leave the island and that strengthened the character and proud of the local inhabitants.