The Sardinian Interior

Sardinia's interior has almost nothing to do with the yacht harbours of the north coast. The Barbagia is high, poor and pastoral, with villages that held out against Rome, against Byzantium and against most things since, and where Sardinian is spoken as a first language. The Supramonte above Oliena is a limestone plateau cut by the Gorropu gorge, among the deepest in Europe at over four hundred metres, with the Selvaggio Blu trek running along the coast below it. Su Gologone is a karst spring that pushes water out of the rock in volume. The cooking is meat, bread and pecorino.

What you actually see

• The Gorropu gorge - over four hundred metres deep, walked from either end.
• Su Gologone - the karst spring pushing water out of the limestone.
• The Barbagia villages - Orgosolo, Oliena, Mamoiada and their traditions.
• The Selvaggio Blu - the hard coastal trek along the Supramonte.

When to go

April to June and September to October; summer inland is very hot and the interior empties. Autumn brings the Autunno in Barbagia festivals, when villages open courtyards and kitchens in rotation. Winter can bring snow to the high ground.

Honest expectations

The Selvaggio Blu is a serious multi-day route with abseils and no water sources, not a walking holiday. Gorropu requires a guide for the deeper section. Roads in the interior are slow and winding. The region's reputation from the banditry of the mid-twentieth century is long out of date but still repeated.

Nearby

Nuoro is the main town; the Golfo di Orosei is on the coast below.