Santa Teresa di Gallura

Santa Teresa di Gallura lies on a stretch of coastline where rocks drop sharply down to the sea, broken occasionally by stretches of beach. It looks like a noblewoman reclining on a rocky surface stretching out towards the strait of Bonifacio. It is still sometimes called by its old name, “Lungoni”, and gives the impression that it is clinging on around the main ‘Piazza dei Re’ square, dedicated to Victor Emanuele. On the rocky peninsula that faces out onto the beautiful Sardinian sea, stands the Aragonese tower of Longosardo; great views across the Porto Longone bay with light coloured cliffs around the Corsican town of Bonifacio in the background. Following the coastline down to the left you arrive at the Rena Bianca beach, which stretches along as far as the rock known as ‘Isola Monica’. If you keep going back up you get to Capo Testa, a place joined to the mainland by a strip of sand lying between the bays of Colba and Santa Reparata. The Roman Emperors came here to choose the stone needed to build the Pantheon in Rome. Two more places not to be missed are Cala Sambuco and Porto Liscia, which look like the last sentinels on dry land looking out on a sparkling azure sea. Santa Teresa is also home of an exquisite ‘poor persons’ dish from local peasant traditional cooking: “suppa cuatta”.