The town’s name was once simply Ulà until, in 1870, Tirso was added to it because it sits on the left bank of Sardinia’s main river, nestled in a natural trachyte amphitheatre. The views from town are as beautiful as they are wild. Ulà Tirso is a tiny town of less than 600 inhabitants. It is within the historical Barigadu region and has medieval origins (XIII century), as well as a variety of archaeological sites dating from prehistory to the Roman Era. The town is also known for the Santa Chiara dam, a monument of industrial archaeology that, in 1923, created Lake Omodeo, then the largest artificial body of water in all of Europe. Today it remains a destination for the nature around it and active tourism. Further down you can tour the old hydroelectric plant: Ulà Tirso was the first town in Sardinia to make use of the electricity.