The church of Santa Maria Navarrese – Baunei. History, birth and curiosities.

Near the church of Santa Maria, one can still admire the old oven that was used on the Feast of the Assumption.

Next to the church of Santa Maria Navarrese is a grand millennial olive tree, which according to botanists had probably already passed its millennium when, according to tradition, the Princess of Navarre settled in these parts in 1052.

There is no other place in Sardinia that can boast such a concentration of secular olive trees in such a short space, and so close to the sea, as there are in Santa Maria Navarrese.

The so-called “Votive Stone”, located a short distance from the church of the Assumption, is a pre-Nuragic archaeological find that probably dates back to the Neolithic age.

The Spanish tower of Santa Maria Navarrese is clear evidence of how seriously this area regarded the problem of pirate raids.

The “Central Beach” in Santa Maria Navarrese stretches from the rocks under the “Spanish Tower” to the rocks known as “di Birissi”.

In Baunei and Santa Maria Navarrese, the beach between the Spanish Tower and the marina is called “Spiaggia di San Giovanni”(St. John’s beach).

“The Islet of Ogliastra” is part of the municipal territory of Lotzorai, but its location at the centre of the Gulf of Arbatax.

The ‘Tancau’ beach begins south of the ‘Birissi’ rocks, which have marked the border between the municipal territories of Baunei and Lotzorai since 1849.