Sa Barza

The abandoned village

Gairo

Gairo Vecchio, emptied after the 1951 flood, is now the most eloquent place in Ogliastra on the relationship between settlement and terrain.

The ruins of Gairo Vecchio, abandoned after the 1951 flood

The ruins of Gairo Vecchio, abandoned after the 1951 flood — Photo: Tiuliano · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The 1951 flood hit Ogliastra hard and led to the gradual abandonment of the old village of Gairo. The houses remain, emptied, on a moving slope: a physical record of a collective decision.

The municipality today is split across separate nuclei, from the interior to the coast. That dispersal, typical of many Sardinian villages rebuilt in the twentieth century, is as much part of the story as the ruins.

The essential answers

What is it?
An inland Ogliastra municipality comprising the current village, a coastal hamlet and the abandoned nucleus of Gairo Vecchio.
Where is it?
Inland Ogliastra, in the area of the limestone tacchi, with territory extending to the sea.
Why visit?
For Gairo Vecchio: a settlement abandoned after the 1951 flood because of slope instability, today visitable with care.
How do you get there?
By car from inland Ogliastra.
When to go?
Spring and autumn; avoid periods of heavy rain on unstable slopes.
What is nearby?
Ulassai, Jerzu, the Ogliastra tacchi, the Cardedu coast.
Where to stay?
From I Mandorli, Gairo pairs well with Ulassai in a single day inland.
The ruins of Gairo Vecchio, abandoned after the 1951 flood

Where to stay

A base for exploring east Sardinia

From I Mandorli, Gairo pairs well with Ulassai in a single day inland.

I Mandorli, a base for GairoWhere to stay