Province of Olbia-Tempio
The province of Olbia-Tempio, one of the newly created provinces, facing north on the Sea of Sardinia, a narrow channel that separates it from Corsica, and east on the Tyrrhenian Sea, bordered to the west by the Province of Sassari and the south with The Province of Nuoro.
The most important city of the province is Olbia, which with over 40,000 inhabitants has become one of the largest centers North East of Sardinia, also thanks to the presence of a second airport in importance only to Cagliari.
Special features of this province is the Sardinian dialect, a dialect that is very close to that of southern Corsica, spoken mainly in Tempio Pausania and in general in almost all Gallura, from Badesi in San Teodoro, apart from Olbia, Luras Part dell'agro of Gulf Orange and Budoni, where, as in the rest of the province, they speak Sardinian language in its variant logudorese north.
The territory of the province of Olbia-Tempio
The territory of the province of Olbia-Tempio encompasses the region of Gallura, including the northeast coast of Sardinia, including the Costa Smeralda, the 'Archipelago of Maddalena. Are also included in the Northern Province Montacuto region, a small part of the Barony and the eastern side of Lake Coghinas.
In addition to the Costa Smeralda, which has no need for presentations, along the coast of the province there are several coastal resorts of great beauty, with tourist facilities and hotels of high quality. Moving from the coast towards the interior, you'll find profiles of sharp mountains of granite and Limbara, the highest peak in the region, the Great Plains Sassi or Valley of the Moon, a vast high plateau dotted with granite rocks isolated or grouped, the chain of mountains and lake Ultan Liscia. One of the natural monuments of a greater emphasis is Incappiddatu Lu Mountains, also known as the "mushroom" because of its unusual shape, which is located near the town of Arzachena.
Throughout the The province is also home of Lu Padula Exhibitions (Exhibitions or pond), a small wetland of great natural interest and between Cannigione Arzachena, which with its 387 hectares of land is an oasis of security in which wildlife nesting and wintering many species of water birds, including chicken Sultan, marsh hawks and herons.
Olbia and around
The town of Olbia, integrated into a broad natural bay surrounded by islands and Molara Tavolara, shows the tourist as a modern city full of life, which has an airport which serves as the main stopover for tourists near the Costa Smeralda.
The city, probably founded by punici between the sixth and fourth centuries BC, then passed under the dominion of the Romans, and thanks to its thriving port became an important center of conjunction with Ostia, between the testimonies dating back to Roman times, have the hole, and the baths' water. Olbia became Judicial capital around 1000 under the name of Civita or Newfoundland, and saw her grow old town around the impressive church of San Simplicio.
The Basilica of San Simplicio, dedicated to the bishop and martyr, patron of the city today Olbia, is the most important and ancient religious monument of the North-East. Built in From the century and later enlarged in the thirteenth, is located on a small hill in the center of the city, the place where there was an early Christian church. The basilica, built in the Pisan style, with influences from Lombardy, is almost entirely made of granite. The facade is three by two pilasters, enriched by a large three-mullioned window that decorates the pediment, which is decorated with four ceramic basin, the side facades are divided by pilasters and decorated with a double row Romanesque arches, as well as the apse, on the back of the building. The interior has three naves separated by arches supported by pillars and columns, some decorated with Romanesque capitals adorned with anthropomorphic reasons, or with heads of goat and mouflon, the center of you see two frescoes faded, in which recognize San Simplicio and St. Victor, bishop of the city after the 595th In the presbytery, under the altar, to be kept in the seventeenth-century wooden polychrome bust depicting San Simplicio, along with the shrine.
Around Olbia you can visit two very interesting prehistoric sites: the complex nuragico Cabu to Abbas, made up of a tower with a central well and a large megalithic yard, and the sacred well Sa Testa, a large courtyard pavement where there is an entrance that leads to the underground chamber where the spring flows.
Among the granite massif of Cugnana stands San Pantaleo, a charming village born at the end of the nineteenth century around a church dedicated to its holy country. The country's main attraction is its high and privileged position, where you can enjoy a panoramic view that covers most of the nearby Costa Smeralda. Very characteristic is also the architecture of the old town, with its low houses made of granite that color of gray and blue all over the country. Great importance was the production of this lively town, particularly the processing of ceramics.
Pausania temple and its surroundings
Pausania temple nestled in a lush landscape rich in lakes and wells, is an important locations Gallurese renowned for 'granite extraction and processing of the cork as well as for the springs of Rinaggiu, on the slopes of Mount Limbara, from which flows a water poor in minerals and the major therapeutic properties. Its origins date back to Roman times, when the two stations Gemellae Templum were merged and the name of the temple appears to Pausania the first time in 1173, in an agreement between the bishop of Civita and the city of Pisa.
Ancient capital of Gallura, Tempio Pausania hides among its many modern buildings the old historic center, with its granite stone buildings in the characteristic wrought iron balconies. Not far from the central Piazza Gallura, which houses the main public buildings are the Cathedral, originally from the fifteenth century, 's Oratory of the Rosary and the little church of Santa Croce. From the summit of Mount Limbara, south of the country, you can enjoy a panorama that sweeps from the Bay of Sassari to cliffs of the Strait of Bonifacio.
Nuchis is a small fraction of Pausania Temple situated inside a dense forest of cork trees decorated by spectacular granite formations. Founded around 1000, retains some Nuchis of considerable historical interest, such as the Church of the Holy Spirit, built with granite in sight in the thirteenth century, which houses two precious wooden crucifixes of the seventeenth century, the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, built in 1529, also built in full cantons with granite and decorated with frescoes, the church of Santa Croce dates back to the seventeenth century, which has a facade with a bell-hut sail, and finally the church of San Salvatore, built in 1891, decorated with granite concrete on sight. Around Nuchis are also complex nuragico Agnu of the sacred source of Li Padadini and t omba of the giants of Pascaredda.
Santa Teresa di Gallura
Santa Teresa di Gallura is a town that overlooks the Strait of Bonifacio, situated on a promontory north of the Sardinia. Already known in Roman times under the name "Lungonis" was a famous commercial port used to sell mainly extracted from the granite quarries near the village and later was invaded by Saracens and came under the dominion of the courts of Arborea, who built then a castle destroyed by the Genoese. In subsequent years, for two centuries, the area was a refuge for pirates and smugglers, until, in the sixteenth century, the area was manned by the military. In 1808, thanks to the guidance of Francesco Maria Magnon Piedmont, King Vittorio Emanuele I decreed the birth of Santa Teresa its boundaries. The name was to be dedicated to Maria Theresa of Austria, wife of Vittorio Emanuele I, but that he wanted to dedicate to S. Teresa.
The center of the town is built around the two bays of Porto Longone, which hosts the small port, and Rena Bianca, the resort beaches of white sand and very fine. The beauty of the beaches joins the beauty of the monuments and of the few but important examples of the past, including the village of Lu nuragico Brandali, which are still visible the foundations of huts and pens for animals, in which were found near the remains of a tomb giants.
Of more recent times the tower Longosardo, built by King Philip II of Spain in the fifteenth century, and the Church of Our Lord to Buoncammino, built in the seventeenth century in the heart of a wood where once stood a shrine. Of particular interest are the ruins of the battery Ferrero, dating back to World War II: locations of artillery, bunkers, barracks, mines open and rail links to transport war materials and granite rock.
Archaeological sites in the province of oblivion-Temple
- Nuraghe Albucciu - Generally considered the fortified home of the head of the village, the nuraghe Albucciu is a structure shaped like a cone that rises up against a massive granite. The nuraghe, a rectangular, is made up of a corridor Keystone, which served as an entrance, a stairway leads to the outer rampart, which are the remains of the towers, a double oval on the back that communicates externally with a narrow tunnel dug into the rock, and a larger room, where he met the family. Inside the nuraghe, consist of large blocks of granite not finished, were found a few objects in bronze, a votive statuette and a dagger.
- Temple Malchittu - In a little hollow, not far from nuraghe Albucciu, is the temple of Malchittu, a rectangular building that stands out among the other temples that can be found in Sardinia for the excellent state of preservation. In the atrium, especially the square, stands out the front of the temple, decorated with a small pediment, over the hall is the door, bordered on top by a thin architrave, which introduces them in the great room of the temple.
- Tomb of the giants of Coddu Vecchju - The tomb of the giants of Coddu Vecchju is located in Capichera, about 6 km from Arzachena, and is decorated in relief on the central stele, which together with the slab covering the burial of the corridor, took the symbolic gate to the afterlife.
- Necropolis of Li Muri - The necropolis of Li Walls are composed of several slabs of stone driven into the ground surrounded by groups of stones arranged in a circle, residual mounds of earth and rubble covering each tomb. Some of these circles have more in them, and thus form a genuine multi-layer fence, the center of which is a quadrangular area surrounded by other stones stuck in the ground which is the area of the burial itself.
- Tomb of Li Lolghi - The tomb of Li Lolghi rises on a hill a few km from Arzachena, on which stands the monolithic stele, well 3.75 meters high, which closes the sepulchral corridor, whose sides are fourteen plates stuck land bordering the ceremonial area. The total size of the monument are the result of two phases of construction and expansion: the oldest part is the tomb gallery consists of three plates stuck in the ground, surrounded by a fence that supported the circular mound of earth and stones that covered the slab; belong instead of widening the ceremonial area and along the basement corridor, covered with slabs.
Festivals and traditions of the province of Olbia-Tempio
The city of Temple attracts many tourists every year at the Carrasciali timpiesu, Carnival tempiese. Undisputed protagonist of the carnival is His Majesty King George, whose enormous figure sitting on the throne is the power in all its forms. For six days His Majesty King George is acclaimed, honored and flatter. In the evening of Shrove Tuesday, the King, guilty and creator of all the ills of city life, is processed and burned in the public square, leaving the heir a son who King George will be for the next carnival.
Around the figure of the King twenty parade floats, the greater attraction of the Carnival Tempiese, surrounded by thousands of people in costume. Fashion shows are held the Thursday before Lent, with the arrival in town of his majesty, on Sunday, with the marriage of the King, and finally, Shrove Tuesday, with the trial and sentencing at the stake. Besides the parades, the carnival also shows and events around both adults and children.
Each year at Olbia, between 11 and May 15 is celebrated San Simplicio, patron saint of the city, with a solemn procession, fireworks and poetry competitions.