What is Oristano known for?

Carnival equestrian joust at the ring with a sixteenth-century ritual: Su Componidori, the lead rider, is dressed and unmasked publicly before the ride. Regent of the Giudicato from 1383 to 1403, author of the Carta de Logu, the legal code that governed Sardinia for four centuries after her death. Phoenician-Roman port city on the Sinis peninsula, predecessor of Oristano as regional capital, archaeological site with theatre, baths and Punic remains.

Oristano is a comune in the province of Oristano, Sardinia region of Italy, about 96 kilometers from Cagliari.

Sardinia · Oristano

Oristano

The old capital of the Giudicato di Arborea, city of Eleonora and the Carta de Logu, host of Sa Sartiglia equestrian joust at Carnival.

96 km / 60 mi

Nearest hub (Cagliari)

30,363

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Oristano sits at the mouth of the Tirso river on the Campidano plain, five metres above sea level, looking onto the gulf that carries its name. The city replaced the ancient Phoenician-Roman port of Tharros and became the capital of the Giudicato di Arborea in 1076, the central-western Sardinian state that survived from 900 to 1420. Eleonora d'Arborea governed as regent from 1383 to 1403 and issued the Carta de Logu, one of the most advanced medieval law codes in Europe, in force on the island for four centuries. Each Carnival the city stages Sa Sartiglia, an equestrian joust at the ring whose lead rider, Su Componidori, is dressed and unmasked according to a fixed sixteenth-century ritual. The Torre di Mariano II and the Antica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta mark the medieval centre. The coast at Torregrande, six kilometres west, carries the Bandiera Blu rating.

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Gallery

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Known for

Torre di Mariano II (Torre di San Cristoforo)
Late thirteenth-century medieval tower built by Mariano II d'Arborea on Piazza Roma, one of the surviving fragments of the old city walls.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Medieval cathedral on Piazza Duomo, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, with the octagonal bell tower retaining its earlier majolica-tiled cap.
Antiquarium Arborense
Civic museum with the most important collection of Punic-Roman finds from Tharros and medieval material from the Giudicato of Arborea.
Piazza Eleonora d'Arborea
Central square named for the giudicessa, with the 1881 statue of Eleonora holding the Carta de Logu, surrounded by Liberty-era palazzi.
Torregrande
Coastal marina six kilometres west of the city, named for the late-sixteenth-century Spanish watchtower, with a Bandiera Blu beach.
Area archeologica di Tharros
Phoenician-Roman city on the Sinis peninsula northwest of Oristano, the predecessor settlement that the Arborea capital replaced from 1076.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the working season on the Campidano coast: warm dry days, Torregrande open, the wetlands of the Sinis full of flamingos. July and August touch thirty-five degrees on the plain and the centre empties between two and five each afternoon. April and the second half of October hold the gold light and the dry warmth that suits Tharros and the cathedral walks. The big event is Sa Sartiglia, two days at the end of Carnival, on the last Sunday before Lent and Shrove Tuesday: the city centre becomes a sand track and the joust takes place under the medieval tower of Mariano II. November and December are quiet, with mild winters and short days.