Sardinia · Nuoro
Oliena
A Supramonte village at the foot of Monte Corrasi, source of Cannonau Nepente, base camp for Tiscali and the Lanaitto valley.
Known for
NEPENTE DI OLIENA
Vintage Cannonau wine produced only from grapes grown in the commune, name-checked by Gabriele D'Annunzio as a wine 'worthy of the Olympus'.
SUPRAMONTE
Limestone massif culminating at Monte Corrasi 1,463m, with the Lanaitto valley, the Tiscali nuragic village and the Su Gologone spring at its base.
SU GOLOGONE
Sardinia's largest karst spring and natural monument since 1998, emerald-green water rising from the Supramonte aquifer below Monte Uddè.
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
Why come
Oliena sits on the western flank of Monte Corrasi, the 1,463-metre limestone peak that anchors the Supramonte massif in the interior of the Nuoro province. The village is the main inhabited base for one of the wildest karst landscapes in Italy: the Lanaitto valley below the town conceals the Bronze Age village of Tiscali, hidden inside the collapsed roof of a karstic doline, and the caves of Sa Oche and Su Bentu. Su Gologone, the most important spring in Sardinia, surfaces at the foot of Monte Uddè just east of the centre, a natural monument since 1998.
The wine here is Cannonau Nepente di Oliena, a vintage red Gabriele D'Annunzio celebrated by name. Olive groves and almond orchards fill the valley below the cliffs. The village belongs to the Parco Nazionale del Gennargentu zone and is a Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club Italiano.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Oliena’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.
By subscribing you agree to Substack’s Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and our Information collection notice.
What to see
Monte Corrasi
Limestone peak of the Supramonte rising to 1,463 metres directly above the village, the highest point of the massif and a long climb from town.
Su Gologone
Karst spring at the foot of Monte Uddè, the largest in Sardinia and natural monument since 1998, water surfacing emerald-green from the Supramonte aquifer.
Villaggio nuragico di Tiscali
Bronze Age village of circular huts hidden inside a collapsed karstic doline on Monte Tiscali, reached on foot through the Lanaitto valley.
Grotta di Sa Oche e Su Bentu
Cave system in the Lanaitto valley with one of the longest subterranean rivers in Italy, used since the Upper Paleolithic.
Grotta Corbeddu
Karst cave that yielded the earliest known human remains in Sardinia, dating to the Upper Paleolithic.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Oliena fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to — a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Su GologoneRistorante
Su Gologone holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a Gambero Rosso listing.
Sa CorteRistorante
Sa Corte carries a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Living here
- Population 6,582
- Very remotei
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Sardinia, 3 h 13 min drive
- Regional capital Cagliari, 3 h 1 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 380 m
- Population: 6,582
- Surface area: 165.74 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
More towns near Oliena
Galtellì
Province: Nuoro
Grazia Deledda's 'Canne al vento' set — a 2,354-resident Baronia borgo under the Monte Tuttavista in Sardinia's northeast, with the triple Borghi Autentici + Bandiera Arancione + Città del Vino signal, the 11th-c Cattedrale di San Pietro (Sardinia's first), and the entire centro recognised as the Parco Letterario Grazia Deledda for being the literal setting of her 1913 Nobel-trajectory novel.
Mamoiada
Province: Nuoro
The Barbagia village where the Mamuthones come out on January 17, twelve men in black sheepskins carrying thirty kilos of cowbells.
Orosei
Province: Nuoro
A small Baroque town at 19 meters in the Cedrino valley, two kilometers from the limestone gulf whose southern coves are reached only by boat.
Dorgali
Province: Nuoro
A Supramonte town at 387 meters with the coastal frazione Cala Gonone, the Tiscali Nuragic village, and the 400-meter walls of Su Gorropu.
Gavoi
Province: Nuoro
A 777-meter Barbagia hilltop village above Lake Gusana with a Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club, the country's most-attended summer literary festival (L'Isola delle Storie), and the PDO Fiore Sardo pecorino made here for at least three centuries.
🟠 Bandiera Arancione
More Bandiera Arancione towns in Sardinia
Aggius
Province: Sassari
A Gallura granite village at 514 meters under the Monti di Aggius, with the largest ethnographic museum in Sardegna and three centuries of bandit history.
Sardara
Province: Sud Sardegna
A Campidano thermal town where Nuragic well-temples, Roman Aquae Neapolitanae and a hilltop Arborea castle share the same hot springs.
Tempio Pausania
Province: Sassari
The granite capital of Gallura at the foot of Monte Limbara, known for cork, Vermentino DOCG and the largest Carnival in northern Sardinia.