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00 Oliena
Stemma di Oliena

Sardinia · Nuoro

Oliena

A Supramonte village at the foot of the massif's highest peak, source of Cannonau Nepente, base camp for Tiscali and the Lanaitto valley.

Best time
Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
By car
2 h 59 min from Cagliari
Population
6,582

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

  • J13°
  • F15°
  • M15°
  • A18°
  • M23°
  • J28°
  • J33°
  • A32°
  • S27°
  • O23°
  • N17°
  • D14°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

Why come

Oliena sits on the western flank of the 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 collapsed doline that hides the Tiscali village, and the caves of Sa Oche and Su Bentu, whose river runs for one of the longest stretches underground of any in Italy. Monte Corrasi stands over all of it, the high point of the Supramonte, with the spring rising at the foot of a neighbouring peak just east of the centre.

Olive groves and almond orchards fill the valley below the cliffs, and the Cannonau grown on these slopes becomes the Nepente di Oliena, the wine D'Annunzio named for Olympus. The village belongs to the Parco Nazionale del Gennargentu zone and holds the Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club Italiano. What holds the place together is the relation between the heights and the valley floor: a limestone wall that produces caves, a hidden village and a river underground, and beneath it a strip of cultivated ground that has made the wine and the oil while the mountain keeps the rest concealed.

The Sunday letter

Oliena is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Oliena comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Oliena in our articles

How to get there

From Cagliari (CAG), about 3h 13m by car.

Oliena, photo 1
Oliena, photo 2

What to see

  • Monte Corrasi

    The peak rises directly above the village, a long climb from town and the dominant presence on the skyline in every direction.

  • Su Gologone

    The spring sits at the foot of Monte Uddè, its water surfacing already emerald-green rather than gathering colour downstream.

  • 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

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We recommend

Where to eat

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 Cagliari, 3 h 13 min drive
  • Regional capital Cagliari, 3 h 1 min drive

Common questions

What is Oliena known for?
Oliena is a Supramonte village at the foot of the massif's highest peak, source of Cannonau Nepente, base camp for Tiscali and the Lanaitto valley.
Where is Oliena?
Oliena is a comune in the province of Nuoro, in Sardinia, at 380 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Oliena?
Cagliari (CAG), about 3h 13m by car.
When is the best time to visit Oliena?
Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
Which other towns are like Oliena?
Dorgali, Baunei and Jerzu.
How many people live in Oliena?
6,582 at the 2023 count.
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 and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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