The best city hikes and walks in the Sardinia Mountains

Memorial plaque for the journalist Deffenu, who was politically engaged, represented socialist theses, fought for the equality of Sardinia and fell in the 1st World War at the age of only 27

Designed by the artist Constantino Nivola, the small bronze figures, which originally combine modern and traditional, are reminiscent of menhirs and the Nuragic statuettes in the rocks.

The church is locked and can only be viewed from the outside

Monument to the founder of Sardinia's industrialization. He had a dam built that generated electricity, which powered machines and installed the first street lighting.

Birthplace of the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, Grazia Deledda (1871-1936). She is considered the most important writer from Sardinia and described the hard life on her home island in poems and novels since she was 15 years old.

Located in the historic center of Orosei, the Church of Saint Anthony Abbott is a significant religious and architectural site built between the 14th and 15th centuries using volcanic stone. The church features a single-nave design and houses rare 14th-century frescoes depicting the life of Christ. It is part of a larger medieval complex that includes a Pisan-era watchtower and *cumbessias*, which are small dwellings historically used by pilgrims. The site remains a vibrant hub for local tradition, especially during January’s fire-related festivals.

In the diary of his pilgrimage on the Way of St. James, which was published later, the German entertainer Hape (Hans-Peter) Kerkeling also writes about the meditative experience of praying the Rosary together, which he experienced himself in the “grandiose village church, which has the makings of a cathedral” of Castildelgado (Castile). Under the date June 21, 2001, he notes: “I simply must see the only tourist attraction in town! (…) She is all the more pleased that I want to see the jewel of Castildelgado and accompanies me inside. Our tour quickly ends in front of the altar, and so the woman asks me to take a seat in one of the wonderfully cool pews. Gradually, other people enter the church. The older lady begins to pray the rosary. The monotonous chanting has a calming effect, and the constantly repeating lament gives strength, security, and peace! So, after I can recite the words along with her, I join in the mantra…” (Hape Kerkeling in “I’m Off Then: My Journey on the Camino de Santiago”)

Séuna is the first Nuoro, the farmers' neighborhood. Satta depicts it as a "cluster of small, single-story houses," dirt courtyards enclosed by dry-stone walls, and "cassi" (small boxes) at the doorstep: an order born from disorder. In the center, the little Church of the Grazie: simple, rustic, almost a house like any other, surmounted by a pediment with a bell. Here, Satta places a crucial part of his popular chorus: the peasant-priest, the vegetable garden, the almsgiving, the minimal rites of a very poor but cohesive community. Séuna, he says, could be a seaside village "if there were a sea": instead, there is a merciless white light that splits the shadows of the courtyards and accompanies the funerals that, as they pass, force the "lords of Tettamanzi" to rise and uncover their heads. Strolling today through the narrow streets that climb toward the Corso means recognizing the material grammar of the novel: courtyards, gates, irregular paving stones. Stop in front of the church facade and look at the low houses: you'll understand why Satta, in his "balance sheets," makes Séuna the origin of the village and at the same time its limit—proud, industrious, poor. It's the necessary counterpoint to the city of courts, classrooms, and cafés.