Tempio Pausania

It is a very ancient story told by Tempio Pausania that brings back to the Neolithic age, witnessed by megalithic circles, dolmens and nuraghe still well preserved and can be visited in the surrounding area, on all the Nuraghe Majori that also allows a beautiful guided tour. Rich in resources and strategically devoted to the control of the surrounding area, Tempio Pausania is immediately recognized as the main center of the Gallura hinterland and a city of reference and guide for all the Municipalities of the entire area.

The toponym Templum appears for the first time in an ecclesiastical document of 1173 and seems to be linked to the latin templum, in the meaning of slope or escarpment.

More certain is the origin of the name Pausania, derivation of Pasana, a small town near the city of Olbia and home to the ancient diocese. The name of Villa Templi dates back to the 1300s, as a rural center of the Giudicato di Gallura, to cover the role of the curator of the territorial district of Gemini. In 1506, thanks to the unification of the dioceses of Civita and Ampurias, Tempio became a bishop's seat, adding to its political importance also a role in the religious field of the foreground. It is in the seventeenth century that the Institution of the High Schools of the Piarist Fathers dates back, confirming the ever increasing importance of this center. Now the capital of a vast province and seat of the Prefecture, King Carlo Alberto of Savoy granted the City Hall honors and the administrative dignity of the city to Tempio in 1837.

At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a strong increase in population, due to the increase in the activities that animated the Temple, with the gradual abandonment of the stalls towards the city, bringing a building development of considerable proportions.

Currently Tempio Pausania, after sharing with Olbia its centrality with the recognition of the capital until the existence of the Provincial institution, is one of the most industrialized centers of the island, renowned for the processing of raw materials such as granite, cork and the wine.

To visit the Mount Limbara with its countless perfectly traced paths, paradise for lovers of walks and excursions. Here, from the granite sources of Rinaggiu, flows a mineral water with a high content of silica, which crosses the granitic rock to deposit all impurities, to reach impoverished minerals and with ideal properties for natural therapeutic treatments.

Nearby you can visit the village of Bassacutena closely linked to the figure of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of the two worlds. Here in Bassacutena, in fact, Garibaldi started in 1849 and established a strong bond of friendship with a family in the area who lived in a typical farmhouse near the town. At that time the hero of the two worlds covered the mandate of parliamentary legislature of the tenth legislature and, among the various projects that followed, was also involved in the modification of the route of the Temple-Palau road, an intervention that brought development to this area, allowing the emergence of the first craft activities. In Bassacutena stands the church of San Pietro, dating back to 1931, the theater of the patronal feast of 29 June, and the church of Santa Maria de Lu Macchjetu, dating back to the late Middle Ages and located two kilometers from the town; the festivities take place on the last Sunday of July, during which the suprastantia is organized, a particularly participated country fair.