The Nurra is a geographical region in the northwest of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is the second largest plain of the island, located between the towns of

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

Porto Torres Porto Torres ( sdc, Posthudorra, sc, Portu Turre) is a comune and a city of the Province of Sassari in north-west of Sardinia, Italy. Founded during the 1st century BC as ''Colonia Iulia Turris Libisonis'', it was the first Roman colony of the ...

and

Alghero Alghero (; ca, label= Alguerese, L'Alguer ; sc, S'Alighèra ; sdc, L'Aliera ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ...

. It covers a surface of 700 km² and is bounded by the

Sardinian Sea Sardinian refers to anything related to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. More specifically it can refer to: *Sardinian people *History of Sardinia * Sardinian language * Sardinian literature *Music of Sardinia * Cuisine of Sardinia *Sardinian ( ...

on the west and by the

Gulf of Asinara The Gulf of Asinara is a sea sector included between the Asinara Island, Cape Falcone and the town of Castelsardo, in northern Sardinia, Italy. The communes facing its coast include also Stintino, Porto Torres, Sassari, Sorso, Valledoria and ...

on the north. Nurra was once an important mining center, with

Argentiera Argentiera is a small town and a frazione (hamlet) in the comune of Sassari, in Sardinia, Italy. It is located 43 km from Sassari, in a narrow valley, on the coast of the Sardinian Sea. History Argentiera is a former mining town, its name ...

being the principal village, though today it is a ghost town. The Nurra, before the works of land reclamation initiated under

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

(which were also continued in after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by the ETFAS, Ente Trasformazione Fondiaria Agricola Sarda), and despite being next to one of the most populated areas of Sardinia, has one of the lowest population densities in

, with 5 inhabitants per km², primarily, due to the

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and to the presence of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, eliminated only in the 20th century.

History

Porto Ferro e Lago di Bararz da Monte Doglia - Alghero

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Nurra was a ''

curatoria The Judicates (, or in Sardinian, in Latin, or in Italian), in English also referred to as Sardinian Kingdoms, Sardinian Judgedoms or Judicatures, were independent states that took power in Sardinia in the Middle Ages, between the ninth an ...

'' in the

Giudicato di Torres The Judicate of Logudoro or Torres ( sc, Judicadu de Logudoro or ''Torres'', ''Rennu de Logudoro'' or ''Logu de Torres'') was a state in northwest Sardinia from the tenth through the thirteenth century. Its original capital was Porto Torres. The r ...

, rich with salt mills and silver mines. From the 12th century it was owned by the Branca branch of the

Doria Doria or Dória may refer to: People Surname * Doria (family), a prominent Genoese family ** Andrea Doria (1466–1560), Genoese admiral ** Ansaldo Doria, 12th century Genoese statesman and commander ** Brancaleone Doria (died c. 1409?), husband ...

family of Genoa, who had acquired it at the extinction of the ''giudicato'' family and kept it until the end between the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

and the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...

in the 14th century. This was depopulated the area, and in 1347 many of the villages were reduced to ghost towns, and the remaining ones suffered equally in the subsequent war between Aragon and the

Giudicato of Arborea The Judicate of Arborea ( sc, Judicadu de Arbaree, it, Giudicato di Arborea, ) or the Kingdom of Arborea (, , ) was one of the four independent judicates into which the island of Sardinia was divided in the Middle Ages. It occupied the central ...

. In 1391 it was again invaded by Brancaleone Doria. In 1427 it was formally given to the free commune of Sassari, but was still subject to raids from North-African corsairs.

Heritage

There is an example of

industrial archaeology Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material evidence associated with the industrial past. This evidence, collectively referred to as industrial heritage, includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, docu ...

included in the Geological-Mining Park of Sardinia and preserved from

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Economy

Today economy is based on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

Sources

External links

Page at lamiasardegna.it
{{Coord, 40.8080, N, 8.2540, E, source:wikidata, display=title Landforms of Sardinia Plains of Italy