Tortolì
Encyclopedia
Tortolì is a town and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, co-capital of the Province of Ogliastra
Province of Ogliastra
Ogliastra is a province in eastern Sardinia, Italy. Ogliastra is the most mountainous province in Sardinia. With only some 58,000 inhabitants, it is also the least populous province of Italy. It corresponds roughly to the medieval Giudicato of Agugliastra...

 with Lanusei
Lanusei
Lanusei is a town and comune in Sardinia, co-capital of the Province of Ogliastra with Tortolì....

.

Geography

Tortolì is situated on the eastern coast of Sardinia. Its port and greatest hamlet is Arbatax
Arbatax
Arbatax is the greatest hamlet of Tortolì, Sardinia, in Italy. With almost 5,000 inhabitants, it is also the third town in its province by population, after Lanusei municipality and Tortolì proper .- History :...

, who has also an airport
Tortolì Airport
Tortolì Airport, also known as Tortolì-Arbatax airport is a regional airport, located in the Province of Ogliastra, in central east of Sardinia, Italy...

 connecting it to continental Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and the European continent
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. To the north of it is Girasole and Lotzorai, to the west Villagrande Strisaili and Ilbono, and to the south Barisardo. To the east of the town is the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

.

Ancient history

Tortolì was subsequently conquered by the Carthaginians, Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

, Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...

, and Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

. It was part of the giudicato of Cagliari
Giudicato of Cagliari
The Giudicato of Cagliari was one of the four Sardinian giudicati of the Middle Ages. It covered the entire south and central east portion of the island and was composed of thirteen subdivisions called curatoriae. To its north and west lay Arborea and north and on the east lay Gallura and Logudoro...

 during the 12th century.

The town was the head of the County of Quirra.

Recent history

In 1807 Tortolì became head of a province consisting of 27 villages, but in 1921 lost the capital status in favour of Lanusei
Lanusei
Lanusei is a town and comune in Sardinia, co-capital of the Province of Ogliastra with Tortolì....

. In 1859 it was incorporated into the Province of Cagliari. In 1926 it was incorporated into the province of Nuoro
Province of Nuoro
The Province of Nuoro is a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy. Its capital is the city of Nuoro.It has an area of 3,934 km², and a total population of 161,444. The province is divided into 52 comuni, the largest of which are Nuoro , Siniscola , Macomer , and Dorgali...

.

In 1943 the port of Arbatax was bombed, with 13 dead.

External links

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