Lanusei is one of the main cities, with Tortoli, of the province of Ogliastra. It is situated in Eastern Sardinia on the top of the cliffs between Mount Gennargentu and the Coast and between the green of the inlands and the blue of the sea.

The city was built in a superb panoramic location and was inhabited since the Pre-Nuragic Ages, even though the first traces of settlements, evidenced by the Nuraghi complex with huts and imposing tombs are datable to a later period between XVII and XIV centuries b.C.

It submitted the domination of Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans. During the excavations of 1860, to enlarge the Cathedral, traces of Early Christian tombs came to the light and four Roman bronze medals were found.

The city is the Diocese seat and it hosts the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maddalena, a modern building of 1860, edified on the ruins of a factory of the '600. It is decorated inside with a series of paintings which propose scenes of the lives of Jesus Christ and Maria Maddalena, artworks of the artist Mario Delitala.

Not to miss are the Sanctuary of the Madonna dell' Ogliastra, situated in the higher district of the city, and the Astronomic Observatory on Mount Armidda.