Orgosolo is one of the symbolic rural villages of Barbagia, it is located 20 km from Nuoro and it extends at the foot of the Supramonte, a mountainous plateau of almost 3500 hectares. The Supramonte landscape is a famous trekking destination and it is characterized by a wild vegetation, canyons and caves. Here is located Su Suercone sinkhole, a chasm with a particular funnel shape which is the best known natural attraction of the Supramonte belonging to the territory of Orgosolo.
Throughout the territory there is a deep attachment to the traditions and history of the country including Tenore Singing UNESCO preserved tradition and the art of murales that adorn the walls of the houses and the rocks of the town, narrate politics and culture, intimate dissent and popular struggles, malaise and social justice, daily life and pastoral traditions. Today there are more than 200 murals that attract thousands of tourists from all over the world every year.
The town became famous during the struggle of the peasants and shepherds for the defense of the lands against expropriation. The banditry of the sixties left its mark: in his film Banditi a Orgosolo, the director Vittorio De Seta narrated with cold and dry style the hard life of the shepherds and the traditional diffidence towards the state.
Among the events in the country, two dates need to be fixed in the calendar: Ferragosto for the magnificent horse race to celebrate the holy virgin Maria Assunta and in mid-October for Gustos and Nuscos, orgosolese stage of Autumn in Barbagia, a series of events located throughout the autumn that, through various stages in the marvelous inland villages of the island, want to promote high-value knowledge and the traditions of the peoples who live there. Orgosolo is also famous for its gastronomic culture, among the dishes the most famous it the roast suckling pig, the ravioli with sheep’s sauce and the delicious salami and sausages of pigs raised in the countryside in the area. In Orgosolo it is also possible to participate to the typical lunch with the shepherds, where the latter prepare lunch in contact with nature, it based on meats, cheeses, boiled sheep and roast suckling pig, all accompanied by good homemade bread and a pleasant and full-bodied local cannonau wine. For lovers of spirits, the ideal is to end the meal with the Abbardente, the local brandy with an alcohol content never lower than 50 degrees. It is also possible to attend the process of the cheese preparation in the old shepherds’ sheepfolds and, in early summer, participate in the ancient ritual of shearing sheep, in Sardinian “su tusorzu”, one of the most important events in the pastoral world.
