Question 1

Olbia on Your Own

Accepted Answer

Olbia's main churches, the remains of its ancient walls and the archaeological museum are all in or near the old center. A bus or taxi ride of about 10 km north reaches the beaches at Pittulongu. The main street: Corso Umberto I runs through the center. Palazzo Colonna on the Corso, built in the Liberty style in the early 20th century, is now the town hall. San Paolo: The church of San Paolo stands on the highest point of the old town, where the palace chapel of the medieval judges of Gallura may once have stood. Its tiled dome was added in the 20th century. San Simplicio: The granite basilica of San Simplicio, built in the 11th and 12th centuries outside the medieval walls, is counted among the most important monuments of Gallura. A museum below it shows part of the ancient cemetery on which it was built. The Punic walls: Stretches of the walls the Carthaginians built around the town can be seen in Via Torino and, under two glass pyramids, in Via Acquedotto. The museum: The archaeological museum stands on the small Peddone islet at the old harbor, and its displays include the remains of ancient shipwrecks. Check its opening days before you go. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own. Carry photo ID: Under Italian law the police can stop you at any time to check your identity, so carry photo ID with you.

Question 2

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

Town buses in Olbia are run by ASPO, the city's public service company, and regional buses run by ARST connect the town with the rest of Gallura and Sardinia. Olbia's railway station has trains toward Porto Torres, Cagliari and Golfo Aranci. Much of the center is a limited traffic zone that most vehicles may not enter, and driving in brings a fine, even in a rental car. The Costa Smeralda, the resort coast north of Olbia, is less than 30 km away.

Question 3

Food and Drink

Accepted Answer

Olbia's own dishes are built on the mussels and clams of its gulf, where mussels are farmed in the lagoon-like inner bay. The island's kitchen adds crisp flatbread, cheese pastries, spit-roasted suckling pig and the white wine of Gallura. Mussels: Local mussels are raised in licensed areas of the inner gulf, and many of Olbia's local dishes are based on mussels and clams. Pane carasau: Sardinia's thin, very crisp flatbread is baked twice in a wood oven and keeps for days. Chiusòni: These small cylinders of durum wheat pasta are made all over the island but especially in Gallura. Porceddu: Suckling pig is cooked slowly on a spit and flavored with myrtle or rosemary after roasting. Seadas: Discs of thin dough filled with fresh, slightly sour cheese are fried and covered with honey. Mirto and Vermentino: Mirto is a liqueur made from myrtle berries. Vermentino di Gallura, a white wine with DOCG status, is made in this part of the island.

Question 4

Tipping in Italy

Accepted Answer

Tipping is not customary in Italy. Most restaurants add a cover charge, the coperto, and waiters do not expect a tip, though they will not refuse one. The currency is the euro. If you want to leave something in a restaurant, a euro or two is plenty. Leaving the change for a taxi driver is quite common.

Question 5

Feasts and Language

Accepted Answer

Olbia's year turns on two feasts, one for its patron saint in May and one for the sea in June. The town is also a pocket of Sardinian speech in Gallura, where the surrounding towns speak Gallurese. San Simplicio, 15 May: The feast of Olbia's patron saint follows nine days of religious celebrations, with concerts, fireworks and a free tasting of the town's mussels. San Giovanni and the Madonna del Mare, 24 June: Two statues are carried in a procession on the water, and a wreath of flowers is laid at sea for those who died there. In the evening, bonfires are lit in the neighborhoods. Two names: In Sardinian the town is Terranoa and in Gallurese Tarranoa, both echoing its medieval name, Terranova. Language: Italian is the main language, but many people in Olbia also speak a local form of Sardinian that has borrowed words from Gallurese.

Question 6

A Brief History

Accepted Answer

People have lived around Olbia's gulf since the Neolithic, and its harbor served Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans in turn. In the Middle Ages it was the capital of the Judicate of Gallura, and it was called Terranova until 1939. Nuragic Olbia: More than 50 Nuragic sites are known around the town, from stone towers to the sacred well of Sa Testa, built in the late Bronze Age. Phoenicians and Greeks, about 750 to 630 BC: The first town grew up around 750 BC where Phoenicians lived alongside the local people. Greeks from Phocaea arrived around 630 BC and, by tradition, named it Olbia, from the Greek for happy or prosperous. Carthage and Rome: The Carthaginians walled the town in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. After the Romans took Sardinia in 238 BC, Olbia became a naval base and the island's port nearest the Italian mainland, with a forum, baths and an aqueduct about 7 km long. The Vandals: In the fifth century the Vandals attacked from the sea and burned the town with the ships in its harbor. When a road tunnel was dug under the old port in 1999, 24 Roman and medieval wrecks were found. Capital of Gallura: Under the medieval name Civita, the town was the seat of the judges of Gallura, one of Sardinia's four independent states. Elena of Gallura was the first woman to rule a Sardinian state in her own right, and the last judge, Nino Visconti, appears in Dante's Divine Comedy. Terranova, from 1296: Pisa took over after Nino's death and built a new walled town, Terranova. Malaria, shifting trade routes and pirate raids then emptied it, and at the end of the 17th century it had about 240 inhabitants. Revival: The port was improved in 1870 and the railway arrived in 1881. A royal decree of 4 August 1939 restored the Roman name Olbia, and the town was heavily bombed by the Allies on 14 May 1943. Tourism: Once malaria was eradicated, Olbia grew fast from the 1960s as the service town for the new resorts of the Costa Smeralda. To learn more ashore: The archaeological museum on the Peddone islet at the old harbor covers the town's ancient past, including its shipwrecks.

Question 7

Olbia with Children

Accepted Answer

Olbia suits a family day that mixes a short walk in the old town with a beach. Pick the stop by age, and keep the beach for the end of the day. Younger children: The beaches at Pittulongu, about 10 km north of town, have very fine white sand. In town, the Fausto Noce park covers 18 hectares and is the largest urban park in Sardinia. School age: At the archaeological museum, look for the remains of the ancient ships found under the harbor. The Punic walls under glass pyramids in Via Acquedotto make a quick stop on the way. Teenagers: The sacred well of Sa Testa, beside the road to Pittulongu, has a stairway of 17 steps leading down to its spring. South of town, the tomb of giants of Su Monte 'e s'Abe is a Bronze Age collective tomb beside the ruined castle of Pedres.

Question 8

Beaches

Accepted Answer

The nearest beaches to town are at Pittulongu, about 10 km north, where a run of fine white sand beaches stretches for about 4 km along the coast. Others lie south of the town and further north toward Porto Rotondo. The Pittulongu beaches are La Playa, Lo Squalo, Il Pellicano, Mare e Rocce and Bados. South of town are Lido del Sole, Le Saline, Marina Maria, Bunte, Porto Istana, Li Cuncheddi and Capo Ceraso. Le Saline is used for windsurfing and kitesurfing, and the beach at Murta Maria for windsurfing. The coast and islands south of Olbia, including Tavolara, are part of the Tavolara and Punta Coda Cavallo marine protected area.

Olbia/Sardinia

Good to know

Arriving in Olbia