Palau has 3,772 inhabitants on the northern coast of Gallura and is the port from which one crosses to the La Maddalena archipelago. It is a very young town: the first house was built by Gian Domenico Fresi-Zicchina in 1875, and until 1959 Palau remained a hamlet of Tempio Pausania. Its first inhabitants were shepherds from Tempio who kept a house here by the sea to escape the heat of the interior and to keep an eye on their land.
In 1793 war passed in front of these shores: a very young lieutenant named Bonaparte tried to occupy La Maddalena and was driven back by the sailors led by Domenico Millelire of La Maddalena, who had placed his cannon on the Palau coast, and by the shepherds posted ashore. On the island of Santo Stefano the house that served him as a base can still be seen. Above the town stands the Bear Rock, a granite hill that the wind has carved into the shape of a bear: ancient navigators used it as a landmark, and today it is the town's coat of arms.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Palau
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
