Gavoi

Gavoi sits at 777 metres in the Barbagia di Ollolai, the high interior of central Sardinia, on the shore of Lake Gusana — an artificial reservoir formed in 1961 by damming the Taloro river to feed the Sardinian electrical grid. The village is one of Sardinia's two Bandiera Arancione towns awarded by the Touring Club Italiano, and falls within the boundary of the Parco Nazionale del Golfo di Orosei e del Gennargentu. The centro storico is dense stone, with the parish church of San Gavino Martire (15th c.)

and the late-Romanesque San Antonio Abate anchoring opposite ends of the village. Gavoi is the home of the PDO Fiore Sardo, a hard sheep's-milk pecorino made here for at least three centuries using unpasteurised milk and traditional smoking over juniper; the dairy cooperative still operates seasonally. Every July the village hosts L'Isola delle Storie — Festival Letterario della Sardegna, the country's most-attended summer literary festival, drawing writers from across Italy and Europe to readings staged outdoors in the piazzas. Outside the festival week it's one of the quieter ridge villages in the Barbagia.