Santa Teresa Gallura (in Gallurese Lungòni) is a Municipality of 5,043 inhabitants located 44 m. a.s.l., that extends on a promontory opposite the Corsican southern coast in the North and the Archipelago La Maddalena in the Northeast. The Municipality also includes the boroughs of Porto Pozzo, Ruoni and San Pasquale.
The territory is characterized by the presence of humble granite hills covered with pastures and Macchia Mediterranea shrubs. Worth mentioning by an environmental point of view are the peninsula of Coluccia with the adjacent area of the River Liscia and area surrounding Valle dell’Erica. Santa Teresa Gallura boasts some of the Sardinia most renowned beaches: Capo Testa, Rena Majore, Cala Sambuco, Baia Santa Reparata, La Rena Bianca. The latter has been yearly awarded the Europe Blue Flag since 1987 (award is decided by FEE – Foundation For Environmental Education – according to water quality, coast quality, services and safety measures, environmental education). What’s more, beside the main beaches, there are masses of wonderful inlets and creeks.
The village expands all around two inlets: that of Porto Longone, at the end of which a small port is set, and that of Rena Bianca, which includes a particularly fascinating beach.
Within this area, the memories of the Nuragic and Punic civilizations (Nuraghe Testa and above all the archaeological compound of Lu Brandali that encloses the spoils of a nuraghe, of a hut village, a Giants’Grave and several burials inside natural pits), of the Roman culture (the sites of Longoni and Tibula) and of the Medieval Age (the castle of Longosardo) still coexist. From a historical and artistic point of view, a few kilometres far from the village, the two churches of Santa Reparata and Nostra Signora di Buon Cammino are also important. Worth mentioning because of its connection with war, is also the Ferrero battery, a ruin from the Second World War, composed by artillery emplacements, bunkers and little barracks.
Nowadays Santa Teresa di Gallura is an appreciated destination for the tourist coming from all over the world. This enabled flourishing economic activities related to tourism to develop, even though fishing, agriculture and animal husbandry are still important. The harbour, which enhanced its relevance thanks to pleasure craft customers, warrants daily sea links for passenger and freight traffic to Boniface, in Corsica.
