With its impressive appearance and curious shapes, Ortobene stands at the gates of Nuoro, a few kilometres east of the city. The massif is almost a thousand metres high, dotted with peaks and towers in strange shapes that sometimes appear like humans, sometimes animals.Its 1600 hectares have been inhabited ever since prehistorical times, and offer infinite landscapes: high, granite rocks tower solemnly over valleys. Here you can go climbing, or follow marked paths through dense forests of holm oaks interspersed with downy oaks, cork trees, holly and Mediterranean brush: cistus, strawberry trees, lavender, mastic and juniper. Orchids flower in the meadows, while the forest floor close to the springs is coloured by cyclamens, ferns and various types of mushroom. The mountain is home to mammals (wild boars, weasels, hares, pine martens and foxes), birds of prey (royal eagles, goshawks, peregrine falcons, buzzards and sparrowhawks) and other birds (partridges, turtle-doves and sparrows). In the past, there were also deer, mouflons and vultures.