Inland, halfway house between southern and northern Sardinia, Nuoro is strewn along a gash in the hills, shabby at first glance yet a centre of commerce and birthplace of a Nobel Prize winner, Grazia Deledda, the early 20thC novelist. Her humble cottage is now a humble museum. Little else to see in the town, apart from a startlingly up-to-date folk museum, mostly costumes, jewellery and tools. See the dashing lightweight garb of the moustachioed mountaineers and the heavy stifling cages of female attire.

A bronze statue of Christ the Redeemer on Monte Ortobene, over looking the town, is honoured with a feast annually (end of August). From this summit there are striking views of the impenetrable central highlands.