The History

Santa Teresa Gallura could be considered at first sight a young village as its foundation goes back to the first years of XIX century, in obedience to King Vittorio Emanuele I° wishes; neverthless we can't forget that farthest point of northern Sardinia was inhabited by very ancient people since prehistory.
The first settlement in this area dates back to the nuragic period (4000 B.C). A trace of those can be seen nearby some archeological sites, very close to the build up area.

Under Roman rule, two settlements existed in the area: Longonis and Tibula. The first one which stood on the left side of the present harbour, was a fishermen village. The place name Longonis seems to derive from the peculiar shape of the harbour bay, particularly long and very good natural shelter to the boats. The second village Tibula, was at the final stretch of the consular road. Anyhow the Romans used that area to cut the precious granitic rocks, which were utilized after finished to build up monuments and residences in ancient Rome (some of Pantheon columns were made by the granite of these rocks). In more than a place we can see huge blocks of granite ( more or less finished), which show the signs of past working.

In medieval times, during the maritime republics, the Pisans founded Longonsardo village, so that they could have a strategic point 11 miles far from corsica ruled by Genoa, Pisa's bitter enemy. The harbour strategical position favoured a new flourishing of trades and of mining industr of granites.

The importance of Longonsardo grew considerably in XIII and XIV centuries when it became one of the four important ports in Sardinia, toghere with Cagliari, Porto Torres and Alghero; it was allowed there to ship or unship goods. In 1384 Eleonora of Alborea ordered to build up a castle which was destroyed by Genoases who wanted the depopulation of hte area as well. For this reasons, in the following centuries it became refuge of outlaws and pirates.

The village's rebirth took place in 1808 when Francesco Maria Magnon was the officer commanding the tower. He understood that is was necessary to repopulate the territory to solve the problem of smuggling 'cause only one military checkpoint wasn't enough. Thanks to him reapeted requests, king Vittorio Emanuele I decreed the birth of Santa Teresa ( in honour of the patron saint Queen Teresa) and marked its boundaries. The king wanted to drow himself the map of the town. To increase the number of settlers there were considerable facilitations among which the possibility of obtaining free plots of lands.<