Overview of the itinerary
Sentiero Italia runs the length of the island’s eastern side, covering its most important mountains, in 28 stages. Starting from the north: it flanks the Monte Limbara massif, crosses the limestones of Mont’Albo and Tuttavista, skirting the Gulf of Orosei, it crosses the Supramonte, Gennargentu and the Tacchi of Ogliastra and reaches Perdasdefogu. Further south, it passes through Armungia and the Gerrei sub-region. Lastly, it touches on the villages of Burcei and San Gregorio, continuing on the Sette Fratelli massif to the old prisons of Castiadas.
General information on Sentiero Italia (Grand Italian Trail)
Sentiero Italia, or Grand Italian Trail, as also explained on the official website, is a walking route that crosses the whole of Italy, using mainly but not exclusively “registered trails”.
In particular, in Sardinia, not all the stages of the Sentiero Italia of CAI (Italian Alpine Club) are made of trails already included in the registry of the Sardinia Trail Network (RES), either because they have not yet been tested and approved or simply because they cannot be registered as they do not meet the requirements. However, as a whole, the Sentiero Italia is the single longest walking route currently crossing Sardinia from the north (S. Teresa Gallura, stage Z 1) to the south (Castiadas, end of stage Z 28), touching on the most fascinating mountain areas in central-eastern Sardinia: the plateau of Buddusò, Tepilora, the Cedrino river valley, the ancient forests of Montes, Perda Liana and the regional forest of Montarbu, Monte Genis, and lastly the regional forest of Settefratelli (among the many crossed by the various stages of this long hiking itinerary).
Information on this stage of the trail
A lucky omen, as well as the starting point of this long walking adventure. The country sanctuary of Nostra Madonna del Buon Cammino (Our Lady of Travellers) is located 2 km from the outskirts of the town of Santa Teresa di Gallura: this is where the first stage of the route begins, leading from the coast into the first hills.
After 9 km of blacktop and dirt roads and a short stretch of livestock trail, all through farmland, you will reach the Saltàra locality. Its name derives from Saltàro, a ruler (Giudice) of Gallura in the year 1110, whose mother Marcusa gave the name to one of the peaks of the Gennargentu massif. After passing by the tourist resort of Rena Majore, this leg of the trail ends near the Saltàra and Sardo Paolina agritourism farms.
