What is Ulassai known for?

Born here in 1919, the textile artist who tied the village to the mountain with 27 km of blue ribbon in 1981. One of the largest karst caves in Europe, 70 meters high and nearly a kilometer long, open to guided tours. Limestone buttes shaped like shoe heels that ring the village and give the Ogliastra interior its skyline.

Ulassai is a comune in the province of Nuoro, Sardinia region of Italy, about 104 kilometers from Cagliari.

Sardinia · Nuoro

Ulassai

The highest village in Ogliastra at 775 meters, where Maria Lai tied the houses to the mountain with blue ribbon in 1981.

775m

Elevation

104 km / 65 mi

Nearest hub (Cagliari)

1,366

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Città delle Grotte

Why come

Ulassai sits at 775 meters on a ledge beneath the Tacchi d'Ogliastra, the limestone buttes that rise like broken teeth above the inland Ogliastra. It is the highest village in the subregion. The artist Maria Lai was born here in 1919. In 1981 she organized Legarsi alla Montagna, tying 27 kilometers of pale blue denim ribbon between every house in the village and up to the summit of Monte Tisiddu, an act of collective art that took three days and is still considered the founding event of Italian relational art. The former railway station now holds 140 of her works as the Stazione dell'Arte, opened in 2006. Outside the village, the Su Marmuri cave is one of the largest karst chambers in Europe, and the Lequarci waterfalls drop 100 meters off the Tacchi when the rains arrive. The population has been declining for decades. The art keeps the village on the map.

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Gallery

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Known for

Stazione dell'Arte
Former railway station converted in 2006 into a museum holding 140 works by Maria Lai, the village's most famous daughter.
Grotta di Su Marmuri
One of the largest karst caves in Europe, with a single chamber 70 meters tall stretching nearly a kilometer into the limestone.
Cascate Lequarci
A 100-meter waterfall on the Tacchi cliffs above the village, active after winter rains and usually dry by midsummer.
Tacchi d'Ogliastra
The limestone buttes that frame the village, named for their resemblance to shoe heels, walkable by marked footpaths.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonio
Parish church in the upper village, the starting point of Maria Lai's 1981 ribbon work toward Monte Tisiddu.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June is the green window: the Lequarci waterfall runs, the Tacchi turn pale gold at sunset, and the trails are walkable without heat. September through November is the second window, drier and quieter, with cooler nights at 775 meters. Summer pushes thirty degrees on the lower slopes; the village stays cooler than the coast but the waterfall dries up by July. Winter is cold and largely closed. Many trattorie shut between Christmas and Easter. The Sagra delle Launeddas and the August feast of Sant'Antonio pull the village back to life in the warm months.