Tempio Pausania is a town of about 14,000 inhabitants in the Gallura region of Sassari province in northern Sardinia, Italy.

Understand

Chiesa di Santa Croce

Tempio Pausania (or simply Tempio) is located in the mountainous centre of the Gallura region. The town used to be a co-capital of a province on par with Olbia.

Tourist information

• 1 Ufficio informazioni turistiche (Tourist Office), Piazza Gallura 3 (Town Hall), ☏ +39 079 63 90 080. (updated Sep 2017)

Get in

The old Stazione F.d.S. train station is now used as a bus station.

Interior of the station

By plane

The closest airports are in Olbia (Aeroporto Costa Smeralda) and Alghero (Alghero Riviera del Corallo).

By train

The town lies at the narrow gauge railway between Sassari and Palau. Since 1997 it has been used only in summer by a tourist train service Trenino verde.

By bus

ARST is the main regional bus service provider in the region.

• 2 Stazione F.d.S.. A "dormant" narrow gauge railway station is used these days by ARST as a regional bus hub. Ticket office and waiting room are operating in the station. The toilet is in a relatively functional state. (updated Sep 2017)

Private buses (Sardabus, Autoservizi Careddu) make their stop nearby at the via Asproni, next to the Tribunale (the court of Tempio).

Get around

By bus

S.A.U.T.. company serves a couple of urban bus lines in the town. Single: €1 (valid 1hr 30min). (updated Sep 2017)

On foot

The town is small enough to be explored on foot.

See

Cattedrale San Pietro

Oratorio del Rosario

So-called Casa di Nino di Gallura

The town is famous for its buildings with granite façades. Have a walk along Corso Matteotti, via Roma (Carrera Longa, Lu Runzatu, Lu Pultali), Piazza d'Italia (Piazza di l'Ara), Parco delle Rimembranze, Fonte Nuova (Funtana Noa) and Parco di San Lorenzo, via Mannu.

• 1 Cattedrale San Pietro (Santu Petru). The original building was consecrated in 1219, but in the 1st half of the 19th century it was considerably enlarged and rebuilt in Genoese Baroque style. (updated Sep 2017)
• 2 Oratorio del Rosario. A 15th-century chapel with a characteristic Gothic-Aragonese granite façade. (updated Sep 2017)
• 3 Chiesa di Santa Croce. The building was built in the medieval period, presumably in the 13th century, but probably even much earlier. (updated Sep 2017)
• 4 Casa di Nino di Gallura. Remains of the residence attributed (without any grounds) to Nino (Ugolino) Visconti who was a Judge of Giudicato of Gallura (one of four Sardinian giudicati) in the 13th century. Dante Alighieri meets him in the 8th canto of his Purgatorio (Divine Comedy). (updated Sep 2017)
• 5 Palazzo Antico Seminario Pes di Villamarina, piazza Gallura. Built in the 1st half of the 17th century. It is one of the oldest residences in town. It now hosts the diocesan museum -- "Museum Templense". (updated Sep 2017)
• 6 Palazzo Pes di Villamarina, piazza Brigata Sassari. A 17th-century building, it was the 2nd residence of the Marquis of Villamarina in Tempio. (updated Sep 2017)
• 7 Oratorio del Purgatorio (Chiesa del Purgatorio). The construction of this chapel could be attributed to a powerful local, Gavino Misorro, who built at his own expense in 1679 of papal penance for killing 18 enemies. His initials are carved in stone The church houses a large painting attributed to the Marche's painter Giuseppe Ghezzi. (updated Sep 2017)
• 8 Chiesa di Nostra Signora del Pilar (Chiesa del Pilar). Built presumably between 1641 and 1684. (updated Sep 2017)
• 9 Teatro del Carmine. Built in 1929 in Liberty style. (updated Sep 2017)

Do

Museums

• 1 Museo "Bernardo De Muro" (Palazzo degli Scolopi) (entrance through the Biblioteca Comunale). 09:00-19:00. A museum devoted to an international operatic tenor who was born in this town. Free. (updated Sep 2017)

Parks

• 2 Chiostro degli Scolopi, Piazza del Carmine. A cloister of a former convent. These day it's an occasional venue for public performances. (updated Sep 2017)
• 3 Parco delle Rimembranze. (updated Sep 2017)
• 4 Parco "Fonte Nuova". A small park with a stream running over an artificial cascade. (updated Sep 2017)
• 5 Fonti di Rinaggiu. Sources with drinking water in the upper part of the city, surrounded by a park. (updated Sep 2017)
• 6 Parco di San Lorenzo. A relatively large park with a small church inside. (updated Sep 2017)

Eat

• 1 Trattoria "La Gallurese", Via Novara, 2. 12:00-15:15, 19:00-22:15. Good local food, despite the touristy setting. (updated Oct 2017)

Go next

Nearby

• 1 Nuraghe Maiori (Naracu Maiori) (SS133 for Palau). Two cones with granite structure, dating back to 1400 BC presents a mixed type between the implant of the corridor nuraghe and those tholos with a central corridor and twin rooms. (updated Sep 2017)
• 2 Nuraghe Polcu (Naracu Polcu) (SS133 for Palau). One of the rare examples of tholos nuraghe in Gallura, characterized by its inner pseudo-dome created by the superposition of successively smaller rings of stones. (updated Sep 2017)