Sardinia · Nuoro
Bolotana
A Marghine hill village between mountain and Tirso valley, with a Welsh railway engineer's villa hidden in a four-hectare exotic garden.
Known for
VILLA PIERCY
Welsh engineer Benjamin Piercy's 1880s residence above the village, built while he was designing Sardegna's railway network.
SARDINIAN CARPETS
Yellow, black and red geometric rugs on horizontal looms, the Bolotana variant of one of the island's main weaving traditions.
MARGHINE OIL
Member of the Città dell'Olio network, producing extra-virgin olive oil from the slopes between mountain and Tirso valley.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Pietro, 29 June
Why come
Bolotana sits on a hill between the Marghine range and the middle valley of the Tirso, fifty-five kilometers from Sassari and thirty from Nuoro. The municipal territory runs from 1,200 meters at Punta Palai down to 144 meters in the valley below. Above the village, the Badde Salighes forest holds Villa Piercy, the rural residence Benjamin Piercy built between 1879 and 1882.
Piercy was the Welsh engineer who designed Sardegna's railway network from 1863 onward. He turned a thousand hectares here into the largest livestock operation in the Mediterranean and laid out a four-hectare garden with native maples and oaks alongside Himalayan thuja, Spanish fir, and Lawson cypress. The villa, with four corner towers under metal domes, reopened to visits after a 2010 restoration.
The pre-Nuragic ritual circles of Ortachis sit higher on the mountain. The weaving tradition, yellow, black, and red geometric carpets on horizontal looms, made Bolotana one of the principal producers of Sardinian rugs.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Bolotana’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Villa Piercy
1879-82 rural residence of Welsh railway engineer Benjamin Piercy in the Badde Salighes forest, with four hectares of garden mixing native and exotic species.
Foresta di Badde Salighes
Mountain forest above the village holding Villa Piercy and walking trails toward Punta Palai at 1,200 meters.
Circoli rituali di Ortachis
Pre-Nuragic ritual circles and standing stones from the Neolithic period, at around 1,000 meters on the mountain.
Punta Palai
Highest peak of the Marghine at 1,200 meters, marking the upper boundary of the Bolotana territory and the surrounding pasture country.
Nuraghi and Tombe dei Giganti
About forty nuraghi and protonuraghi, plus dolmens, domus de Janas, tombs of giants, and sacred wells across the municipal territory.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 2,358
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Sardinia, 2 h 34 min drive
- Regional capital Cagliari, 2 h 21 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 472 m
- Population: 2,358
- Surface area: 108.44 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
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