Santa Maria Navarrese is a coastal and tourist town,

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

('district') of the municipality of

Baunei Baunei is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian island of Sardinia. It is notable for being the location of the multi-day Selvaggio Blu coastal trek. Geography The municipality of Baunei is located about northeast ...

, in the province of

Nuoro Nuoro ( ; ) is a city and (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of Mount Ortobene. It is the capital of the province of Nuoro. With a population of 36,347 (2011), it is the sixth-largest city in Sardinia. Its ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

. It is located at about 150 km north of

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

and 160 km south of

Olbia Olbia (, ; ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune of 61,000 inhabitants in the Italy, Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle ...

, in the middle of the Gulf of Arbatax.

History

Santa Maria Navarrese, founded in the 1950s by Baunese settlers, has grown around a medieval church dating back to , consecrated to Santa Maria Assunta. According to tradition, the church was built on behalf of a princess of

Navarra Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

, hence the adjective ''Navarrese'' in the village's name. The place is known also for a 17th-century watchtower built on the beach and for the thousand-year-old oleasters in the main square.

Geography and economy

Santa Maria Navarrese has a typical

maquis shrubland 220px, Low maquis in Corsica 220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia ( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; , ; ; ; ) is a savanna-like shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs. Maquis ...

seascape. Although it is part of the municipality of Baunei, it can be regarded as a separate town in some respects, mainly because Santa Maria Navarrese lies at 9,1 km (12 minutes by car) from Baunei and has a typical seaside landscape and an increasingly tourist economy, while Baunei is located inland and is mostly a mountainous town. Santa Maria Navarrese is also contiguous to the Tancau sul Mare frazione of

Lotzorai Lotzorai is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about northeast of Tortolì. Lotzorai borders the following municipalities: Baunei, Girasole, Talana, Tor ...

and is part of a strip of Ogliastra's coastal settlements that stretches southwards to

Tortolì Tortolì (; or ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in Sardinia, in the Province of Nuoro. Geography Tortolì is situated on the eastern coast of Sardinia. Its port and greatest hamlet is Arbatax, which has also an airport that once connected it to con ...

and

Arbatax Arbatax (; ) is the largest hamlet (''frazione'') of Tortolì, Sardinia, in Italy with a population of almost 5,000 inhabitants. History The origin of the name Arbatax is uncertain. According to german linuist Max Leopold Wagner, it is derived ...

. It has a small, well-served tourist port, from which it is possible to reach the famous Sardinian cale:

Cala Goloritzé Cala Goloritzè is a beach that is located in the town of Baunei, in the southern part of the Gulf of Orosei, in Ogliastra, Sardinia. The beach, one of the most evocative of Sardinia, was created by a landslide in 1962; it is famous for its high p ...

, Cala Luna, Cala Mariolu (also called Ispùligi de Nie), Cala Sisine, Cala Biriala, Spiaggia dei Gabbiani and Grotta del Fico. The town remains outside most commercial tourist routes and thus still offers a rural unspoiled landscape that provides an insight in day-to-day Sardinian life and is interesting for nature trail tourism. One trekking route that is focused on nature that starts from this city is Selvaggio Blu. {{authority control Municipalities of the Province of Nuoro