Orgosolo

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.