OZIERI

Located in the “Monte Acuto” region, the territory of Ozieri encloses within it practically all the geomorphological characteristics that can distinguish a certain place. A place of fertile lands in the central-northern portion of the territory in the so-called “Campo di Ozieri”, a region better known as the Chilivani plain, which shares its characteristics with the territories of Mores and Ardara to the west.

The western border is also shared with the territory of Chiaramonti, with which it also borders to the north, where the long relief that reaches over 600 meters in altitude called “Sa Costa” forms a natural barrier that continues even further, delimiting, always to the north, also the territory of Erula. From this promontory the altitude drops rapidly to the locality “Giuncos Longos” which marks the border with Tula, delimited for a certain stretch by one of the rivers that cross Ozieri, “Riu su Rizzolu”, which reaches the lowest altimetric point of the territory at about 160 meters. It flows into the “Coghinas” lake, a reservoir that falls for a large part in the territory of Oschiri and which marks the last stretch of border to the north with Ozieri. Another river also flows into the “Coghinas” lake, the “Riu Mannu”, perhaps the most important one, which, arriving from Ittireddu to the south, crosses the entire territory of Ozieri.

The southern border is also shared with the territory of Nughedu San Nicolò, with which Ozieri also shares another very important river, the “Riu Butule”, together with the highest reliefs of the entire territory which reach almost 750 meters of Mount “Littu”.

The only municipality that borders Ozieri to the east is Pattada.

In the enormous territory of Ozieri, of over 25 thousand hectares, between plains, hills, mountains, pastures and thick woods, there are also mineral deposits of iron, zinc, copper and lead, as well as the remains of a petrified forest.

If we stand in Garibaldi square and look at the city rising up, we notice that the historic center is precisely the cluster of houses in front of us, as if this were the center of an amphitheater that extends in a semicircle on both sides in almost equal measure. The long avenue that from Garibaldi square leads to Carlo Alberto square is one of the three branches that form a sort of Y and that has as its central point Carlo Alberto square, the true historic center of the city, also known as “Cantareddu”, because of a small fountain located there. The left branch of the Y leads to “Grixoni Fountain”, also known as “Don Peppe’s fountain”, from Don Giuseppe Grixoni Sequi, the nobleman from Ozieri who financed its construction in the late 1870s. In reality, a water source had already existed on the same spot since the end of the 17th century, and today’s semicircular marble monument has a sort of central altar with six columns, and at the top in the centre the sculpted bust of the nobleman who financed it. The water continuously flows from six bronze nozzles installed along the entire width of the monument, and from two marble statues of lions placed at the lateral ends. The right branch of the Y leads instead to the church of Santa Lucia, commissioned and financed by the noblewoman Maria Lucia Sechi towards the end of the 19th century. Built on the pre-existing layout of the old church of Santa Lucia, smaller in size and dating back to the end of the 16th century, today’s sanctuary is in neoclassical style with a square door surmounted by a large oculus on whose sides stand two pairs of columns. The interior of the church has a single nave divided by arches into two bays that open laterally towards four chapels, two on each side. From the historic center of “Cantareddu” and from the lateral development of these famous three branches, the central part of the amphitheater that we spoke about previously developed little by little, incorporating what were once the gardens of noble families, later transformed into squares, around which the houses were built. Demographic development led to the expansion of the city along the ends of the amphitheater with buildings built on the sides of the hills in a development of the urban center that goes vertically and often with significant differences in level.

Walking through the center, you notice that Ozieri is full of historic noble buildings, especially from the 19th century but also dating back to previous eras. The display of wealth reached its peak in the neoclassical columns that supported loggias and covered terraces. Important examples of this are the palaces named Mannu, Costi, Vigliaroni, and the Villa Pietri.

The city of Ozieri today offers all the services useful to the community.

Attention to culture has always been one of the fundamental points of the city, both with schools of all levels, and with cultural centers, including that of San Francesco, which today also houses the municipal library. The cinema theater named after Oriana Fallaci contributes to cultural diffusion both with prose and dance shows and with the screening of films for an audience of over 250 seats.
Home to some of the most important improvisational poets of the Logudoro region of the late 19th century, including Antonio Cubeddu, Francesco Morittu and Giuseppe Pirastru, the city squares were often the scene of extemporaneous poetry competitions in the Sardinian language that hosted poets from all the surrounding towns to compete and entertain, and at the same time to contribute to the cultural enrichment of the audience. It was thanks to these figures that in 1956 the city of Ozieri established the Sardinian Poetry Award, which every year awards the most prominent author of the proposed categories. This enormous cultural and literary baggage is now accessible at the Regional Literature Documentation Center located right in the center of Ozieri.

In the neighborhood called “Cappuccini” stands the civil hospital named after Antonio Segni, former president of the Republic. Its construction dates back to the second half of the 19th century thanks to a donation from the noblewoman Maria Lucia Sechi. The structure has undergone several expansions and today includes almost all the hospital divisions and is a point of reference for healthcare for the whole of Northern Sardinia.

In Ozieri you can also visit the prisons, incorporated into the palace that once belonged to the Borgia family. They were widely used between the 16th and 17th centuries, while in more recent times, up until fifty years ago, they were used for minor crimes, such as petty theft or harassment. The prisons were accessed through the internal courtyard of the building, towards narrow and humid cells, where even the tables that served as beds were installed at an angle so as to make it uncomfortable for the prisoners to sleep. For major crimes, until the 17th century, the courtyard was the place where executions for those condemned to death took place. In ancient times, the management of the prisons was done with a sort of contract, and whoever won it had to take care of the custody of the prisoners. The latter had to provide for their imprisonment with their own goods, and therefore there were frequent sales of houses or lands, while the less well-off were led by the jailer around the city to ask for alms that would provide for their own sustenance.

Over the years, Borgia Palace has been reused for various purposes and in more recent times it has been the headquarters of the Sardinian Horse Breeding Institute. Originally it was the Stallion Horse Depot, established in 1874 with the aim of improving equine breeds, not only for the daily work to which the horse contributed, but also for war uses. It was in the early 1900s, after careful selection and crossbreeding, that the most suitable horse was obtained, medium-sized, robust but also agile, for the infantry cavalry regiments. Over time, the Deposit was having considerable success and was breeding more and more horses, so much so that the headquarters in Duchessa Borgia square was no longer sufficient for the purposes, and in 1921, thanks to various funding, among which those of the cavalier Luigi Comida stand out, with monetary donations but above all land, the Chilivani racecourse was inaugurated, with suitable structures for the maintenance and breeding of horses, and with the track that since then has hosted important races every year, even at a national level, including the famous Sardinian Derby. After various vicissitudes due above all to wars but also to periods of economic scarcity, given the high costs for the maintenance of the horses for which the Deposit even risked closure, it was around the middle of the last century that the Region of Sardinia, knowing the high value of horse breeding, intervened to support the activity of the Deposit, giving life to the Sardinian Horse Breeding Institute. The Borgia Palace today also houses the horse museum, which presents a large collection of historical documents and photos regarding this beautiful animal so closely linked to this land.

The city of Ozieri is quite rich in museums. The archaeological museum of the Clarisse, housed in the convent of the same name, has a path that starts from prehistory and therefore from the findings especially in the cave of San Michele, then develops towards the Neolithic period, with the enormous amount of findings in the numerous nuraghes scattered throughout the territory, and more recently towards the Romanesque period, especially with the evidence of the activities and trade of these peoples, up to the medieval period. This museum is also a place of temporary exhibitions, while an almost unique feature is its attic with glass floors that allows you to appreciate the past of this building.
Near Carlo Alberto square is the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art. Inside it hosts a path of faith that starts from the Middle Ages to today. Worthy of note are two works by the famous “Master of Ozieri”, the altarpiece of “Our Lady of Loreto” and the “Descent from the Cross” which date back to the 16th century.

Thanks to the richness of its fertile lands, Ozieri certainly had no shortage of wheat plantations, especially durum wheat for making bread. As in most Sardinian towns, bread was once made at home, and there were several mills and wood-fired ovens used for its production. Today, a museum is dedicated to the art of milling and bread-making, with an exhibition of tools and millstones, some dating back over a hundred years, which, alongside the modern mill, show the evolution of these tools that were so important to the Ozieri community. Not far from the historic city center, there is a very special museum called “La Taverna dell’Aquila”. It is a private ethnographic museum, which can be visited by appointment, and which includes both minerals and fossils, as well as a vast collection of objects that range across various economic and cultural sectors of the city, with tools used by doctors and craftsmen, shepherds and soldiers, up to religious objects and school books in use during the 20th century, but also a collection of liqueurs and wines from various eras. Last but not least, in Ozieri there is the city art gallery and the Mario de Candia theatre, dating back to about a century ago and no longer used today.

The city of Ozieri also has two hamlets. The first arose in the second half of the 19th century and is located in the “Campo di Ozieri” locality also known as the Chilivani plain, from which the hamlet takes its name. The impetus for the birth of this settlement came from the desire to have the railway line pass through these places about 8 km from the centre of Ozieri. It was the engineer Benjamin Piercy, who was in charge of building the regional railway line, who chose the location for the Chilivani station, more for personal interests than for those of the community as he himself had landholdings nearby. This hamlet experienced its greatest development during the post-war period, with regional bodies dividing up land and building apartments, and today has about 300 inhabitants.
The second hamlet of Ozieri is that of San Nicola, which arose around the 70s of the 20th century. Today it hosts around 3000 inhabitants, it is located in the industrial area about 3 km from the city centre, and owes its name to a church present there, dating back to the 13th century and erected in honour of San Nicola.

A very widespread theory on the birth of the name of Ozieri is the one that then leads back to the pronunciation in the Sardinian language of “Ottieri” or “Uttieri” in clear reference to the number eight, which would have been the villages scattered throughout the territory in ancient times and then abandoned to form the settlement we know today.

In the condaghe of San Michele di Salvennor (an ancient document) there is mention of the toponym “Otigeri”. We are in the 12th century, in the midst of the Romanesque domination, and from the analysis of the names of people and from the comparison with the evolution of the names of other countries always of Romanesque derivation, it can be said that the etymology of Ozieri could derive from the name of a rich landowner who enjoyed great importance in the territory in question and who could be called “Ottigerius”.

Another theory divides the name into two parts, of which the first “Oti-” would derive from the Sardinian “Uttìu”, “Guttìu”, “Buttìu” with the meaning of “drop”, and the second part “-eri” is a common suffix also in other towns in Sardinia such as Oniferi, Ortueri and the ancient Liccheri (today’s Ghilarza) or Orgheri (ancient name of Buddusò). If we take the concept of drop or dripping, in Ozieri it certainly finds confirmation in its numerous springs and fountains, the one of “Cantareddu” above all.

Agriculture and livestock farming have always been a strong point of the city’s economy and continue to be so even in current times with the mechanization and modernization of agricultural companies, especially in the so-called “Campo di Ozieri”.

The industrial and artisanal hub of Chilivani hosts numerous businesses ranging from the transformation of agri-food products to the construction and motor sectors. The city offers numerous services and therefore attracts workers from other countries for all sectors, from construction to office employees and hospital jobs.

Sports play an important role within the community, attracting athletes from all over the surrounding area.

The tourism sector is also widely developed thanks to the numerous archaeological and architectural assets and sites that attract more and more visitors. All this generates a significant income for the sectors connected to them, such as hospitality and reception.

The Cathedral of Ozieri dates back to the 13th century, but the building as we know it today has undergone several renovations, starting with its Gothic-style structure and much smaller dimensions, through the expansion in the 18th century and ending with the work on the neoclassical-style façade and the ornaments commissioned by the most recent financier, the noblewoman Maria Lucia Sechi, who also subsidized other historical and religious buildings in Ozieri. The façade has a main door and two lateral ones surmounted by arches, which then correspond to the profile of the interior, a Latin cross plan, composed of three naves, a central one and two lateral ones onto which three chapels open on each side. The church is embellished with works by the “Master of Ozieri”, sculptures by artists from the school of Canova, and a white marble floor.

Not far from the Cathedral stands the church of the Beata Vergine del Rosario. It dates back to the first half of the 17th century and for over a hundred years it was the home of cloistered nuns. The Baroque style in this church reaches its maximum simplicity, starting from the square façade with essential structural elements. Inside, the central nave has a barrel vault and three chapels on each side. The decorations and furnishings are also quite sober.

The church of San Francesco dates back to the second half of the 16th century and is now annexed to the convent of the Franciscan friars. The imposing façade has a square door and a window above that allows light to enter the interior. The interior has a single nave with side chapels. The wooden altar is the original one from the late 1600s, restored the following century, and has the coat of arms of the noble family that contributed to its construction. A more complete restoration of the interior of the church took place in the late 70s of the last century, and one can now notice a modern style both in the structural elements and in the artistic forms of the wall paintings.

The church of the Beata Vergine di Monserrato was built around the end of the 16th century in the highest part of Ozieri on the hill that bears the same name. The façade has two asymmetrical slopes with a squared main door, surmounted by a slab carved with the name of the church itself.

The church of San Sebastiano, built in the square of the same name in the northern part of the city, dates back to the mid-17th century. The sanctuary has a very simple architecture starting from the squared façade with an upper cornice, a small bell gable and two small columns that protrude from the lateral ends. The door is also squared and has a small oculus above it to let light into the interior. The interior has a single central nave that leads to a wooden altar.

At the entrance to the city in the northern part stands the church of the Beata Vergine del Loreto, dating back to the second half of the 15th century. Over time it has been home to various orders of friars, including the Franciscans and Capuchins. The church has been renovated several times, even in recent times, it has a fairly simple façade with a squared door surmounted by an arch and a large rose window. The roof has two slopes and has a large iron cross at the top. Outside the church on the right there is a curious construction with sinuous shapes to which a bell is fixed. The interior instead has a single nave divided by arches into two bays. The famous retable by the “Master of Ozieri” belonged to this church and was later transferred to the Diocesan Museum.

In the southern part of the city stands the church of the Beata Vergine del Carmelo, built in the early 17th century. The architecture is very simple starting from the façade with a small, squared door surmounted by a small arch-shaped niche and a small oculus. The roof is gabled, and the large tympanum follows the profile of the roof, which has a beautiful bell gable on top. Inside, the single nave is divided by three arches.

Dating back to the late 16th century and built in a central street of Ozieri is the church of the Beata Vergine delle Grazie. It has a very simple architecture starting from the façade which only features the frame of the double-sloped roof. The portal with an architrave has two lateral columns, with a triangular gable and a rectangular window above. The internal nave is single and ends with a very particular presbytery in which the vault is decorated with cross and star elements embellished with circular coats of arms.

Located in the Cappuccini district and annexed to the convent of the same name is the church of Saints Cosma and Damiano, actually better known as Nostra Signora del Rimedio. Built towards the end of the 16th century, it was the hospital chapel when it was located in the convent, while today it is a place of prayer for the “Segni” civil hospital. The simplicity of the façade is embellished with both horizontal and vertical linear inserts such as those that from the base reach the top of the roof, which instead has sinuous shapes. The door and the window above are also squared. Inside there is a single nave with a barrel vault and three chapels on the left side, the first dedicated to the Madonna del Rimedio, the second to the Virgin and San Felice, and the third dedicated to the Virgin together with the saints Sebastiano and Francesco.

The list of places of worship in the town of Ozieri ends with the church of the Holy Child of Prague, and the church of Santa Lucia already described above. In the territory of Ozieri there are also several country churches. The country church of Santo Stefano built between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, is located a few kilometers from the city, in the locality “Vigne”. Today the church is in ruins, you can see the façade with a gabled roof and a bell gable. The roof has collapsed in several parts and the interior is degraded, a small altar and some niches remain. The condition of ruins is unfortunately common also for the other country churches in the territory of Ozieri, examples of which are the churches of San Luca, San Leonardo, Sant’Antonio, San Giovanni and Santa Croce.

The most important forane church in the area is the Basilica of Sant’Antioco di Bisarcio, patron saint of Ozieri. It is located about 15 km from the town, on a hill from which you can control the territory below, and its construction in Romanesque style dates back to the second half of the 11th century, but we know that shortly after its construction it was hit by a fire and was rebuilt about a century later. It was the place of prayer for the inhabitants of the surrounding village before it was abandoned, with the transfer of the population to Ozieri around the 14th century. The structure appears perfectly preserved and the last restoration, after the collapse of a part of the facade and the portico due to lightning, gave us an asymmetrical construction in which the original right part can give us an idea of how the entire front facade looked. The entire basilica is built with trachyte blocks, the imposing facade shows the sign of the division of the building into two floors, of which on the lower floor there are three arches, finally decorated, with the entrance to the basilica from the central opening, and on the sides two large windows also asymmetrical, of which only the one on the right still retains its original function. The upper portion on the right half maintains the authentic architecture, with arches and capitals that can only make us imagine the beauty that the basilica had in times gone by. The external side walls are also decorated with the arch motifs repeated throughout the structure, while on the right part stands an imposing bell tower with a squared base whose top is missing, unfortunately collapsed. From the portico you can access either the interior of the basilica, or the stairs that lead to the upper floor. On the lower floor we find a central nave and two small side naves supported by arches and columns that make the basilica soar towards an important height and up to the wooden roof of the central nave itself. The entire floor is also made of stone and has a small altar and a statue of the patron saint of Sardinia in the background. On the upper floor there are three rooms used in the past for different functions, one even with a chimney hood, while the central room with its altar was the private chapel of the bishop of Bisarcio.

The last two forane churches found in the territory of Ozieri are the church of San Nicola, in the detached neighborhood of the same name, and the church of the Sacred Heart which is located in Chilivani.

The archaeological wealth of Ozieri is evident in its over 100 nuraghes, with simple, complex, or corridor structures, and with annexed villages, and in its over 30 tombs of the giants, domus de Janas, caves, and sacred wells.