Sardinia · Ogliastra
Ulassai
One of the highest villages in Ogliastra, at 775 meters on a ledge beneath the Tacchi.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Ulassai is on our list
It holds Città delle Grotte.
Subscribe and you get Ulassai's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
- By car
- 1 h 46 min from Cagliari
- Population
- 1,363
- J10°
- F12°
- M12°
- A15°
- M20°
- J25°
- J30°
- A29°
- S24°
- O20°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Ulassai sits on a ledge beneath the Tacchi d'Ogliastra, the limestone buttes that rise like broken teeth above the inland Ogliastra. Su Marmuri opens in the rock outside the village, and the Lequarci waterfalls drop off the Tacchi when winter rains fill them, dry again by summer. The village itself is compact, its upper quarter built around the parish church, its lower streets running toward the old railway line that once connected Ogliastra to the coast and now ends at the station turned museum.
Population has been declining here for decades, a pattern common across the inland villages of the subregion. What keeps Ulassai distinct is the work Maria Lai made of it: a village small enough that one artist's ribbon could reach every house and still climb the mountain above it.
How to get there
From Cagliari (CAG), about 2 h 4 min by car.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Stazione dell'Arte
Former railway station converted in 2006 into a museum holding 140 works by Maria Lai, housed in the platform building where trains once ran.
Grotta di Su Marmuri
A single chamber deep enough to swallow the light within a few steps of the entrance, reached by guided tour 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 buttes framing the village, walkable by marked footpaths that climb from the streets into bare rock.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonio
Parish church in the upper village, the starting point of Maria Lai's 1981 work, the first ribbon knotted here before the line ran to Monte Tisiddu.
Living here
Could you live here?
Ulassai is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,363. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Tortolì, is 37 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Lanusei, a city of 4,968, is 23 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
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 1,363, down 8.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Lanusei, 23 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Lanusei, 7 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €450 to €650 per m² to buy, €1.40 to €2.10 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Very remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 100% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Cagliari airport (CAG), 2 h 4 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Cagliari, 1 h 46 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
1% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 271 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 31% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. The old province of Nuoro 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 Lanusei, 7 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Cagliari, 74 km away. The nearest IB school is Ambrit International School, 338 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Chatterbox Schools and College, 69 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.76% 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
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 17% 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
MARIA LAI
Born here in 1919, the textile artist who tied the village to the mountain with 27 km of blue ribbon in 1981.
SU MARMURI
One of the largest karst caves in Europe, 70 meters high and nearly a kilometer long, open to guided tours.
THE TACCHI
Limestone buttes shaped like shoe heels that ring the village and give the Ogliastra interior its skyline.
Common questions
- What is Ulassai known for?
- One of the highest villages in Ogliastra, at 775 meters on a ledge beneath the Tacchi.
- Where is Ulassai?
- Ulassai is a comune in the province of Ogliastra, in Sardinia.
- What is the nearest airport to Ulassai?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cagliari (CAG), about 2 h 4 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Ulassai?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Ulassai?
- Mamoiada, Aritzo and Aggius.
- How many people live in Ulassai?
- 1,363 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Ulassai a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Ulassai is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Tortolì, is 37 min away. The nearest city, Lanusei, is 23 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Lanusei, 7 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 100% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 775 m
- Population: 1,363
- Surface area: 122.41 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 Ulassai appears in
Similar
Towns like Ulassai
What all six share with Ulassai: under 3,000 people
Mamoiada
Province: Nuoro
both inland in Sardinia · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Aritzo
Province: Nuoro
both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Aggius
Province: Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna
both inland in Sardinia
Orroli
Province: Cagliari
both inland in Sardinia
Fiumalbo
Province: Modena
both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Terranova di Pollino
Province: Potenza
both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Ulassai 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 Ulassai comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Monte Argentario, 322 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.