Lanusei has made and unmade its own rank more than once. On 4 May 1807 an edict of Victor Emmanuel I made it the capital of a province running from the mountains of the Barbagia to those of the Sette Fratelli; on 23 October 1859 that province ceased to exist and the town became the head of a district instead. Much later it went back to being a capital, together with Tortolì, of the province of Ogliastra, and in that period it was the least populous provincial capital in Italy. Meanwhile its name has ended up in the sky: the asteroid 6289 Lanusei was discovered in 1984 by the astrophysicist Walter Ferreri.
A count made in 1840 gives the town back to us in a few lines: 555 farmers, 115 shepherds, 45 artisans, 445 weavers, 25 shopkeepers, 12 notaries and 2 priests, with very few people able to read. The school came at the urging of a boy: in 1886 the pupil Antonio Giua, then at the Salesian college of Alassio, asked don Bosco to open one at Lanusei too. The middle school opened on 6 November 1898 with twenty-eight pupils, and on 14 June 1902 the Salesians built here their first house in Sardinia.
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📅 Every year, on 22 July; the fourth Sunday of May brings the Pilgrimage to the Madonna d'Ogliastra
Lanusei celebrates Mary Magdalene on 22 July, in the cathedral dedicated to her. On the fourth Sunday of May, the Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Madonna d'Ogliastra is held, on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Lanusei, but an easy day trip away.
