Aglientu

Aglientu is a very young comune: it has existed as such since 1959, when it broke away from Tempio Pausania, and the built-up centre is little more than a century old. The territory, on the other hand, is very old indeed. There are more than sixteen nuragic sites, and fragments of pottery and of obsidian tools have been gathered that date between 6000 and 4700 before Christ; in Roman times the road linking Olbia to Turris Libisonis, today's Porto Torres, ran through here by way of Santa Teresa. In Gallurese the village is still called Santu Francìscu di l'Aglièntu, that is by the name of the church around which the people of the scattered farmsteads gathered before there was any comune at all.

The geography, then, says something that surprises those who arrive in summer: Aglientu has thirty-two kilometres of coast, twenty-two of them beaches broken by spurs of granite, but the main village stands inland, perched at 420 metres on granite hills among holm oaks, junipers and oaks. The place, in short, was born looking at the land, and only later turned towards the sea: today it lives above all on seaside tourism, with three campsites facing the coast, but also on Vermentino di Gallura, on cattle and on hand-made fresh pasta, bread and sweets. On the coast stands the Spanish tower of Vignola, and the village's name remains disputed: perhaps from agliu, «white» or «empty», which recurs in several place names round about, perhaps from alghjentu, «silver-coloured», perhaps from a place where the wind blows.