Oliena and Orgosolo, Central Sardinia

Orgosolo Wall Painting

SUNDAY 21 JUNE 2009

Oliena is a mountain village where many of the houses seem to be falling into ruin, but others are well cared for. The older women wear black or dark clothes, with a black shawl. Some of the walls are decordated with murals, but the main centre for wall paintings is Orgosolo.

Murals first began to appear on the walls of Orgosolo in the 1960s and the practice has since spread to other towns and villages in Sardinia. The themes are usually political, but often deal with issues such as emigration and the tough pastoral way of life. The surrounding countryside was bandit country, in particular Orgosolo, and during the 1960s Orgosolo was the subject of a film by Vittorio De Seta ‘Bandits at Orgosolo’. Knowing this, it was rather disconcerting to notice that most of the signs on entering villages had bullet holes in them!