How many municipalities are there in Gallura?

Gallura extends along a coastline of approximately 450 km, of which over 200 km can be traveled along the road that connects all the towns along the coast. The most famous and sought-after resorts in the world are located here, from Costa Smeralda and Porto Cervo in the Maddalena Archipelago, from Saint Teresa to the Gallura's living room what is it called Porto San Paolo from which one embarks for the’Tavolara Island, and many other dream places!

Not only for this reason, Gallura is Sardinia's leading province in terms of tourist numbers, with approximately 6 million tourists out of the island's total of 16 million (2022 data). In percentage terms, this means that Gallura is preferred by nearly 40% of those who choose Sardinia.

This region comprises 26 municipalities, catering to tourism that spans from the sea to the inland areas, offering a wealth of attractions throughout the year, currently encompassing the months from March to November. However, the other months are also potentially attractive to tourists, but they must be integrated into the region's offerings to best accommodate and serve guests who choose that period.

The municipalities of Gallura are Aggius, Aglientu, Arzachena, Badesi, Bortigiadas, Budoni, Calangianus, Golfo Aranci, La Maddalena, Loiri Porto San Paolo, Luogosanto, Luras, Olbia, Palau, San Teodoro, Sant'Antonio di Gallura, Santa Teresa Gallura, Telti, Tempio Pausania, Trinità d'Agultu and Vignola, Viddalba..

Gallura Crown

Gallura it is the name of the territory in the North-East of Sardinia, which was the basis of the ancient Giudicato of Gallura, later dominated by the famous Nino di Gallùra (eternalized by Dante). The heraldry of the Giudicato had as its logo the rooster, but with the feathered one Gallura he has no relatives.
The corònimo is very ancient and dates back to before the birth of the Judged.

According to FC Casula (Di.Sto.Sa. 199), Gallùra took this name because it was opposite the Fretum Gallicum (then Bocche di Bonifacio), called 'Strait of the Gauls' because after the Barbarian Invasions Corsica belonged to the Franks of Gaul, unlike Sardinia, which belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Casula's hypothesis is not only suggestive: it is essentially realistic, considering that Gallura, in addition to the identity between its crown name and the name of the Strait, has always gravitated toward southern Corsica, serving as the true connecting point between the two islands, and even sharing the language of southern Corsica, rather than the vernacular of Sardinia.

It is no coincidence that even in Roman times the inhabitants of Gallura were called Corsicans. And when the Latin term Fretum Gallicum ceased in favor of the vernacular, the strait was named Strait of Bonifacio, once again a term from small Corsica, not from the large island of Sardinia.
It therefore seems confirmed that Gallura was, for several millennia and until the mid-20th century, an appendage of Corsica, almost a “domain” of Corsica, and it is with this island that many linguistic phenomena of Gallura must be taken into account.

However, it should be remembered that in Roman times the western part of today's Gallura was inhabited by Balares, and it can be assumed that today Gallura is hypercorrect < *Balura/Ballura. Nor can we ignore the hypothesis that the term is much older, based on Sum. Bal ‘'stone' + uru ‘'seat, settlement, territory': bal-luru, meaning 'land of stone, of spires', considering the true nature of Gallura, which in the past was famous for the mighty spires that dominated everywhere.

They were the first to be sacrificed with the expansion of the precious marble quarries, which over the centuries transformed it, making the territory unrecognizable. Today, one can only imagine the imposing beauty of the magnificent Gallura spires. And then the almost certainty that Balares – name of the inhabitants in Roman times – if nothing more than a corrupted adjective of place, from the Sum. Bal-luru ‘'territory of spires'.