The patron saint of Orgosolo is Saint Peter the Apostle, honoured with a novena, Mass and procession on 29 June, to whom the parish church of Santu Perdu, dating from the 14th century, is dedicated. Despite this, the feast most deeply felt in the village remains that of Nostra Sennora de Mesaustu, the Assumption of Mary, celebrated on 15 August: on this occasion a solemn procession with horses and traditional costumes takes place, in which the heavy statue of the sleeping Madonna is carried on the shoulders of four men through the village streets. The civic celebrations unfold over about ten days, from 13 to 23 August, culminating on the 23rd with S'ottada, a second, this time nocturnal, procession, again accompanied by horses and traditional dress.
Orgosolo is today known worldwide for its murals: the tradition was born in 1975, when the Tuscan teacher Francesco Del Casino and his middle-school pupils painted a dozen works along Corso Repubblica for the thirtieth anniversary of the Liberation. Since then other artists, including the Orgosolo-born painter Pasquale Buesca, have helped the number of works grow past two hundred, turning the village's walls into an open-air gallery that draws thousands of visitors every year. The village also overlooks the Supramonte, a limestone plateau that holds one of the last stretches of primary forest remaining in Europe.
