Slow trip

28 slow days of food and wine: Oliena

Oliena sits in the Supramonte mountains of central Sardinia, where shepherds still drive flocks through granite gorges and limestone caves age wine in conditions no temperature control could replicate. October arrives as the harvest closes and the summer crowds vanish, leaving the restaurants and enotecas to feed locals who know which producers matter. The surrounding villages—Mamoiada with its masked carnival traditions, Dorgali with its obsidian workshops, Carloforte with its Ligurian fishing boats—each maintain their own wine and food cultures, separated by mountain passes that seem to discourage tourism.

28 days · October · food & wine-first · moderate walking

Oliena

Oliena, 28 days

Base yourself in Oliena and make these your day trips.

5 towns · qualifying pool of 6 from 39 candidates

Hill towns in the provinces of Nuoro and Sud Sardegna. wine territory, TCI Bandiera Arancione, and national park territory.

Getting around

Rent a car for this corner. Oliena, your base, has no station, so plan to arrive by car. Only 0 of the 5 towns have a railway station; the day trips assume driving.

Your timing

October sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.

Day 1 · Arrive in Oliena

Settle in. Oliena is your base for the next 28 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.

Province: 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.

Picked for:food and wine · hill town

Day 2 · Day trip to Mamoiada

First outing. Head to Mamoiada for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Oliena for dinner.

Province: Nuoro

Mamoiada

The Barbagia village where the Mamuthones come out on January 17, twelve men in black sheepskins carrying thirty kilos of cowbells.

Picked for:food and wine · hill town

Day 3 · Day trip to Galtellì

Out again, this time to Galtellì. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Oliena.

Province: Nuoro

Galtellì

Grazia Deledda's 'Canne al vento' set: a 2,354-resident Baronia borgo in Sardinia's northeast, with the entire centro recognised as the Parco Letterario Grazia Deledda for being the literal setting of her 1913 Nobel-trajectory novel.

Picked for:food and wine · plain

Day 4 · Day trip to Dorgali

Out again, this time to Dorgali. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Oliena.

Province: Nuoro

Dorgali

A Supramonte town at 387 meters, with a coastal frazione, a Nuragic village hidden in a sinkhole, and a limestone gorge cut through the massif to the south.

Picked for:food and wine · hill town

Day 5 · Day trip to Carloforte

Last day trip in this corner, to Carloforte. Make a day of it, then back to Oliena.

Province: Sud Sardegna

Carloforte

A Ligurian-speaking fishing town on the Isola di San Pietro, founded in 1738 by coral fishers returning from Tunisian Tabarka.

Picked for:art and history · island

Day 6 · Day in Oliena