A Night at the Monte Armidda Observatory

Osservatorio Astronomico Monte Armidda: a night under the stars

It’s the night of September 8, and this evening I’ve decided to take the car and head to the Osservatorio Astronomico Ferdinando Caliumi, on Monte Armidda, near Lanusei.

If you feel like stargazing in Sardinia, this is one of the places I’d consider. The observatory sits at an altitude of around 1,150 metres, far from major sources of light.

It’s no coincidence that it was built right here. The Associazione Ogliastrina di Astronomia (A.O.A.) describes an almost total absence of light pollution and calls the sky above Monte Armidda one of the darkest skies in Europe. Lanusei’s tourism website also highlights its quality.

Getting to Monte Armidda

The drive is already part of the evening. The road grows ever more winding and, little by little, we find ourselves climbing through the woods, leaving the lights of the towns behind.

Once there, we paid 5 euros to join the tour and observe the sky through the telescope.

And yes, we saw Saturn and its rings.

Saturn through a telescope

Seeing Saturn through a telescope is one of those things a photograph can never really capture.

Our guide shared all sorts of fascinating facts about the stars, but also about the area and Monte Armidda. It was one of the things I appreciated most: we didn’t just look at the sky; we also got to know the place we were observing it from.

The visit ended at around 22:45.

By then, we were absolutely starving.

A dinner found almost by chance

We started calling nearby pizzerias, but the kitchens had already closed almost everywhere.

Then, finally, a restaurant answered:

"I’m sorry, we’ve closed the kitchen, but if you get here soon and don’t mind something simple, we can make you two grilled steaks with a side of vegetables."

We could hardly believe our luck.

Just five minutes later, we arrived at Ristorante Bosco Selene. A stone building nestled in a chestnut wood, with outdoor tables lit by tiny lights.

We sat down, and within seconds the side dishes arrived. The steaks followed shortly afterwards.

Perhaps we were simply incredibly hungry, but the meat and wine were really good. The owners’ kindness did the rest.

For us, 10/10.

A different kind of evening in Ogliastra

In the end, what was meant to be just a visit to the observatory turned into an evening of stars, fascinating facts about the universe and a dinner found almost by chance.

After dinner, we set off back towards Villa Marea, happy and still picturing what we had seen up there.

Before heading back, I took out my phone and tried to photograph the night sky.

This is the result. 🌌