Places in Luras, Sardinia

Luras is a pretty, ancient stone village located on the north east of the island, also known as Gallura and a few kilometres away from hundreds of the enchanting beaches of the coast between Olbia and Agrustos on the east  and Castelsardo and Palau on the west.

The Gallura region reveals an authentic side of Sardinia, leaving behind the glittering and fashionable atmosphere of the Costa Smeralda to reach the timeless region of its archaic soul. Ancient stone places like Luogosanto, Luras, Tempio and Aggius are dominated by an incredibly fascinating landscape of cork-oaks, granite rocks and thick Mediterranean greenery.

Evidences of prehistoric settlements are scattered all over the area and a short drive to archaeological spots are highly recommended.  A number of constructions are found along the Arzachena-Luogosanto road, with the tomb of the giants of Li Lolghi, the necropolis of Li Muri, made up by circles of vertically set stones and the Nuragic temple of Malchittu.

Luras is surrounded by wooden highlands and countryside mainly renowned for its extensive vineyards and the production of high quality Vermentino, Moscato and the famous Nebbiolo di Luras. Its old city centre (centro storico) is superbly preserved with tiny lanes running through ancient granite houses.

The life here, as in Aggius and Tempio, is slow, silent and peaceful. That’s the beauty of Luras, ready to be enjoyed. The local ethnographic museum Galluras founded and run by PierGiacomo Pala provides a great insight on the old traditions and everyday life of the past.

It is housed in a old, granite stone building on the main street of Luras with several rooms displaying original tools and furnishings in the cellar, stable, kitchen and bedroom, traditional costumes, working tools and looms.

In the bedroom we find the main attraction of Galluras, the “mazzolu”, an olive tree wood hammer used – apparently until 1950’ – by the “femina agabbadora”, a women that would give the mortal blow to the dying person to end his sufferings and accelerate his death.  The call to the  “femina agabbadora” was made by the family of the dying and this custom was tolerated by both the Authorities and the Church.

A visit is absolutely recommended. Luras is home of a most renowned mosaic and cork covering artist, Mr Tonino Forteleoni, deceased in 1996. The Forteleoni collection is not a museum but a private house, the home where the artist lived and worked.

The importance of the Collection is due to the unusual techniques, made up, invented and tested for the first time by the artist himself with his skill in carving and engraving cork, and an original and absolutely personal technique, he used to create mosaic bas-relief, making use of all the warm colours of cork.

Within a short drive outside the village of Luras, the magnificent thousand-year-old olive trees  of “Santu Baltolu” in Carana are set in an enchanting landscape on the shore of the Lake Liscia, where the granitic mountains and the lake surface draw a beautiful scenery.

The oldest of them, known by the local inhabitants as “s’ozzastru”, has an height of 9,3 m from the ground, a girth of about 12 m and it is thought to be almost 4,000 years old, surely one of the oldest trees in Europe and as such it was proclaimed a Natural Monument to admire in awe.