Sardinia · Nuoro
Orgosolo
A Barbagia village at 620 meters with over 150 political murals painted on its walls since the 1969 Pratobello revolt.
Picked by Peter Benei
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 2 h 50 min from Cagliari
- Population
- 3,849
- J10°
- F13°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J27°
- J33°
- A31°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Orgosolo sits at 620 meters on the western flank of the Supramonte, deep inside Barbagia di Nuoro. The town is famous for two things, and they are connected. In June 1969 the Italian Army announced plans to turn the Pratobello plateau, the village's grazing land, into a firing range.
The population of about 3,500 occupied the plateau peacefully for days. The Army withdrew. That summer, the Milanese anarchist group Dioniso painted the first mural in town to mark the revolt.
Starting in 1975, a Sienese teacher named Francesco Del Casino worked with his students to expand the project. There are now more than 150 murals on village walls, most political, ranging across Sardinian autonomy, anti-fascism, Latin American solidarity, and contemporary international causes. Orgosolo is also one of the great centers of canto a tenore, the four-voice polyphonic singing recognized by UNESCO in 2005. The Supramonte plateau covers 3,500 hectares east of the town, oak, juniper, limestone, the territory shepherds and bandits used to disappear into for decades.
How to get there
From Cagliari (CAG), about 3 h 5 min by car.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Murales di Orgosolo
Over 150 political and social murals across the village walls, started in 1969 by the Dioniso collective and expanded since 1975 with Francesco Del Casino.
Supramonte di Orgosolo
3,500-hectare limestone plateau east of the village, oak forest and bare rock, the historical refuge of Barbaricin shepherds and the territory of Pratobello.
Nuraghe Mereu
Nuragic complex on the Supramonte di Orgosolo, candidate for the UNESCO list of Nuragic monuments of Sardinia.
Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore
Parish church of Orgosolo with sixteenth-century origins, the religious center of the village above the mural-painted streets.
Pratobello plateau
Grazing plateau seven kilometers from town where the 1969 revolt against the proposed army firing range took place.
Living here
Could you live here?
Orgosolo is at the end of the road.
- A village of 3,849. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Oliena, is 34 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Nuoro, a city of 33,054, is 30 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 3,849, down 10% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Nuoro, 30 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Nuoro, 16 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €780 to €940 per m² to buy, €2.20 to €2.70 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Very remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 100% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Olbia airport (OLB), 1 h 53 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Cagliari, 2 h 50 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
Under 1% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 241 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 35% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Nuoro province ranks 78th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Nuoro, 16 km as the crow flies. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest major one is in Alghero, 100 km away. The nearest IB school is Ambrit International School, 319 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Sardinia International School, 84 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.86% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Sardinia spends about €1,790 a month, €530 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €539 a year for water, on the Sardinia average.
Climate and risk
1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
150 MURALES
Open-air gallery of political and social murals across village walls, the largest concentration in Italy, started after the 1969 Pratobello revolt.
CANTO A TENORE
Four-voice polyphonic Sardinian singing, UNESCO Intangible Heritage since 2005, with several Orgosolo tenores among the leading groups on the island.
SUPRAMONTE
Limestone plateau east of the village, 3,500 hectares of oak and rock, the historical heartland of Barbaricin pastoralism.
Common questions
- What is Orgosolo known for?
- Orgosolo is a Barbagia village at 620 meters with over 150 political murals painted on its walls since the 1969 Pratobello revolt.
- Where is Orgosolo?
- Orgosolo is a comune in the province of Nuoro, in Sardinia.
- What is the nearest airport to Orgosolo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Olbia (OLB), about 1 h 53 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Orgosolo?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Orgosolo?
- Bagolino, Latronico and Castel di Sangro.
- How many people live in Orgosolo?
- 3,849 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Orgosolo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Orgosolo is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Oliena, is 34 min away. The nearest city, Nuoro, is 30 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Nuoro, 16 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 100% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 620 m
- Population: 3,849
- Surface area: 222.6 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.
The ranked lists
Lists Orgosolo appears in
Similar
Towns like Orgosolo
What all six share with Orgosolo: between 3,000 and 10,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Orgosolo 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: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Orgosolo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Monte Argentario, 289 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.