Olzai retains a charming old town, with granite houses that overlook narrow streets and narrow streets and paved streets, divided by an impressive engineering work of the twenties "S'Arzinamentu", a granite stone embankment that collects the waters of the river Bisine, that for its majesty and excellent workmanship, immediately captures the interest of visitors and makes the country unique.
The vegetation is quite varied and rich. In the hilly and flat areas we find the Mediterranean scrub of myrtles, mastics, strawberry trees, sambuchi and almond trees that frame pastures, vineyards, olive groves and that leave space, as you climb, to woods of oaks, holm oaks and chestnuts.

The vastness of the territory of Olzai and the mild climate have always contributed to the development of an economy based on agriculture and breeding with great variety of products such as cereals, vegetables, vines and olive trees, and a rich production of cheeses that today represent the flagship of Olzai.
History

The territory of Olzai has been inhabited since the Neolithic, this is also confirmed by the great menhir that has come to this day with the name of "Babbu 'e Ogozzi" a rock resembling a giant hooded figure, object of veneration. The Dolmen of S'Ena and Sa Vacca, a tomb of the embryonic giants, an Allèe Couvert, dating back to the culture of Bonnannaro (The nuragic phase) and 17 nuraghi testify to the continuity of the presence of man throughout its territory.

In the Middle Ages Olzai was part of the Judicate of Arborea. In 1410 Olzai passed from the Curatoria of Ollolai to the Marquisate of Oristano by Pietro Cubello until 17 August 1420, when the Kingdom of Arborea ended forever and the marquisate was included in the Kingdom of Sardinia.After the battle of Macomer in 1478 Olzai came under the complete Aragonese domination, and at the beginning of 1500 was united to the fief of Mandas, then became a Duchy, one of the largest fiefs on the island. After the War of the Spanish Succession, on 8 August 1720 the Kingdom of Sardinia passed to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. In 1821 and until 1848 it was included in the province of Nuoro, in 1859 in the province of Sassari to return in 1927 to the province of Nuoro.

Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Olzai expressed an important cultural activity. There were many graduates who distinguished themselves in various fields of knowledge, from medicine with Francesco Boi and Pietro Meloni Satta, to the political one with Francesco Dore and the artistic one with master Carmelo.

The authenticity and the good preservation of the historic center of the country, allow visitors to enjoy among narrow paths and granite houses, the wonder of its artistic and architectural treasures.
Church of Santa Barbara. The church, probably built in the Byzantine period, has been altered over time. Until 1738 it was a parish seat and then transformed into an oratory for the confreres of Santa Croce. The gabled façade is made of exposed stone, enriched with red trachyte frames that recall the tower motif , in reference to the martyrdom of the Saint. At the portal framed by trachyte ashlars there are two powerful buttresses and on the left side stands the bell tower. The interior has three naves with round arches and ogive. The elevated presbytery is in Gothic-Catalan style. Behind the main altar is the beautiful altarpiece of the Plague of 1477. Posthumous are the two side chapels, one of the Graces and the other reserved for the statue of Christ deposed, used in the rites of Holy Week as "S'Iscravamentu".

Church of Sant'Anastasio. Built in the twelfth century has a very simple gabled facade surmounted by a bell tower. The rather sober and essential interior has a single nave covered with wooden beams and reeds, while the elevated presbytery has a roof with a gemmata cross vault in line with the Catalan Gothic style and is enriched by the precious Retablo della Madonna con Bambino of 1500.

Church of San Giovanni Battista. The church was built in the fifteenth century as an oratory dedicated to the savior. In the seventeenth century it was enlarged and later became a parish church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The facade is in Plateresque style, very simple and light in color, enlivened by the end frames in red trachyte and enriched by a central rose window and a portal framed by two columns that support a triangular gable always trachyte. The interior has three naves divided by round arches in the central nave vaulted in red brick barrel, and pointed in the aisles, with vaults always exposed brick cross. The elevated Presbytery, vaulted to cruise, opens with a triumphal arch and is embellished by the high altar in marble of 1896 and a choir in walnut wood finely inlaid of the eighteenth century.

Retablo of the Plague. According to oral tradition the polyptych was commissioned by the brotherhood of Santa Croce in fulfillment of the vote for the cessation or absence of the plague of 1477. It 'a tempera on board with gold background, embellished with a valuable calligraphic technique of intense narrative warmth, consists of eight compartments and a predella, where they are represented around the Madonna of milk, the salient phases of the life of Jesus and Mary with the figures of the Saints. Realized by an anonymous painter, now identified with Lorenzo Cavaro of the workshop of Stampace, it represents the link between Catalan-Valencian painting and the Sardinian painting school.

Retablo of the Madonna with child. The altarpiece of the sixteenth century is structured according to the scheme of the double triptych and has common characters with the altarpieces of the school Stampacina , attributed to Antiochus Mainas, operating between 1537 and 1571 at the school of printing. In the central compartment there is the Madonna and Child with a drape in the background and an open book in the left hand; on the top the crucifixion and on the side and bottom the Saints. The altarpiece was extensively altered in the 1800s when the Saint Joseph was added, hence the name of the Holy Family. In recent times it has been brought back to the original iconographic layout.

House museum Carmelo Floris. It was the home of the painter and engraver Carmelo Floris until 1960, the year of his death, and is an example of rural architecture of 1700 noble landowners. At the end of the nineties it was bought by the municipal administration and used as a house museum dedicated to the artist and today it is one of the major tourist - cultural attractions of the country. Inside the original furnishings are exposed beautiful paintings, engravings, and many sketches of the master. Great emotion arouses the visit to his bright studio located in the high floor of the building, where everything is in place, from books, brushes, colors, palettes, the press with gouges and burins, and seem to wait for him for yet another masterpiece.
On Mulinu Vetzu. The old water mill dominates the village of Olzai immersed in an enchanted landscape among oak and mastic woods at about 558 meters above sea level. Built in the second half of the 19th century it is a jewel of architecture and hydraulic and mechanical engineering; it is a Vitruvian type mill with the vertical cassette wheel, driven by the water that falls from above and was used until the twenties for the milling of wheat and barley produced in the territory. Destroyed in the flood of 1921, in 2000 it was the subject of an important restoration action to become today an interesting tourist destination and an example of eco - sustainable economy.

Archaeological heritage. In the territory of Olzai there are 17 nuraghi and some of these, especially those located in the lower part and built in trachyte stones, are preserved in fair conditions, such as the nuraghe "Oritti", "Portoni", "Sa Female" and "Bumbas". Along the road from Olzai to Sedilo, in the region of S'Ena 'e sa Vacca, rich in historical evidence, there is the Dolmen called "Tumba de su Zigante", a "Allèe Couvert" dating back to the Bonnannaro or archaic nuragic culture (1800- 1500 BC).
To be enjoyed

Today as in ancient times, when in the valleys of Olzai large quantities of wheat and barley were produced, bread, both "pane vresa" and "pane modde" continues to have a privileged role in the feeding of olzaesi so that some companies have resumed growing cereals for the production of short-chain flour.
The desserts are traditional, almond paste such as amarettos, gueffos, caschettas, or papassinos with walnuts and "Su Co'one un sapa" made with dried fruit and the sapa of prickly pear, and then Pilichittos, of durum wheat semolina, and again Papassinos and Panettones with raisins to continue with Pistoccos and Marigosos and can be found at the artisanal pastry, Antichi sapori di Daga Gianfranca and the bakery of Loddo Francesca.

The beautiful pastures offer an excellent milk with which they produce valuable cheeses, such as, the Maimone cheese, the Aromatizzato and the Canestrato, with vegetable rennet; or the Pecorino, the semicotto, the Grana, the Fiore sardo and the Grana Orzaesu.

The aromatic wild herbs of myrtle and fennel are used in the preparation of liqueurs and vineyards and olive groves give good quality products.