The mural depicts the famous Olianian soccer player Gianfranco Zola, one of the strongest European players of the past three decades, who was named a member of the British Empire by Elizabeth II for his fair-play on the field and his social commitment.

In addition to having worn the shirt of the Italian national soccer team 38 times, the striker was a symbol of Chelsea. In London he was voted “best player in Chelsea’s history” by the Professional Footballers Association, and fans nicknamed him Magic Box because of the rich repertoire of tricks and “magic” he could invent on the playing field. Despite the glory he achieved at the international level, Zola decided to end his career in Sardinia and play his last two seasons with the Cagliari shirt, winning promotion to Serie A and, most importantly, a place in the hearts of fans all over the island.

The mural has a pink background reminiscent of the pages of the well-known sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The footballer’s portrait is topped by the large title “Sir Gianfranco Zola,” recalling the honor of “Member of the Order of the British Empire” awarded to him in 2004 by Queen Elizabeth II.
Pictured on the right are all the trophies won in his long career, from the Scudetto to the Cup Winners’ Cup.

On the left are the coats of arms of the teams in which the former fantasist played, starting with the small amateur team Pane Carasau, then moving on to Corrasi, Nuorese, Torres, Napoli, Parma, Chelsea, Cagliari and the Italian national team.
The work was created by Oliano artist Luigi Columbu on the occasion of the “A scuola di murales” project.

The mural is dedicated to Father Solinas, a Jesuit and missionary recognized as a martyr for the faith and venerated as a Blessed by the Catholic Church, which celebrates his liturgical memory on Oct. 27.

Giovanni Antonio Solinas, born in Oliena on February 15, 1643, represents a model of holiness and dedication for the Oliena community.
The work, created by artist Luigi Columbu in 2023, depicts Blessed Solinas holding the gospel at the top and, lower down, reproduces the scene of his martyrdom that occurred on October 27, 1683 in the Chaco valley of Argentina. During a mission of contact and peace with the local people, he was massacred along with the priest Pedro Ortiz de Zarate and eighteen laymen by indigenous warriors. His beatification took place on July 2, 2022 at San Ramon de la Nueva Oran, Argentina.

Work by renowned Sardinian muralist Pina Monne representing the transmission of traditions, culture and history between generations.

The people portrayed in the mural in front of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola are two Olianese: the elderly woman is Giovanna Massaiu, who lived to be 97, and her granddaughter Matilda.
The artist portrays the grandmother delivering an asphodel flower to the child. The gesture symbolizes the moment of the passing of local traditions to the new generation; asphodel, in fact, is the raw material from which the beautiful typical baskets that are depicted behind the two are made.

The mural was donated by the artist in 2016 on the occasion of the “Spring in the Villages” event, and pays tribute to women’s know-how and material culture on the island.

Created by Luigi Columbu in 2015, the mural is dedicated to St. Lussorio, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD and patron saint of Oliena.
The saint is depicted here in his robes as a Roman officer with a cross in his hand testifying to his activity as a preacher of the Gospel. The scene is full of dramatic tension: Saint Lussorio wrapped in a purple cloak is riding a majestically rearing white horse under a stormy sky.
The inscriptions in Sardinian framing the scene at the top and bottom tell of his conversion; in fact, the saint abandoned his military career to devote himself to missionary activity, which led to his martyrdom on August 21, 304 A.D., in Forum Traiani (now Fordongianus).
In the right block of the mural is a passage taken from the gosos, devotional and paraliturgical songs of Iberian origin, very common in Sardinia: Lussugliu su nomen tou est che sole risprendente. Oliana riverente t’elezzit patronu sou e ti cunsacrat de nou solenne vestividade (‘Lussorio, your name is like the shining sun. Reverent Oliena elects you as its patron and again dedicates a solemn holiday to you’).

The work, created in 2006 by well-known artist Liliana Cano, is dedicated to the traditional procession of St. Lussorio, patron saint of Oliena.
The mural was donated to the village by the 2005 St. Lussorio Committee, composed, as is customary, of the 30-year-olds in charge of organizing the feast of the patron saint (1975 generation). The celebration, which is deeply felt by the people of Oliena (even among the emigrants) is held from August 18th to 23rd.

The work, created on wooden panels, depicts the procession that takes place every year in Oliena on the afternoon of August 21st.
At the head of the procession, a group of men dressed in black proceed on white horses, followed by the clergy and the faithful, who pace with the sedan chair on whose shoulders the statue of the saint is placed.
Liliana Cano had already carried out several interventions in Oliena in previous years including those dating back to the 1980s in the church of San Lussorio itself.

Created by Luigi Columbu in 2006, the mural depicts an elderly village lady preparing to shoot, according to local custom, during the Easter Day procession.
“La fuciliera” is Maria Palimodde, class of 1921, who every year from the balcony of her home would sling her rifle to perpetuate the tradition on the occasion of S’Incontru.
Still today, on Easter morning, when the simulacrum of the Risen Christ meets the simulacrum of the Virgin Mary in Santa Maria Square while hundreds of people in traditional dress frame the sacred performance, at the first toll of the bells a multitude of gunshots, coming from the houses adjacent to the square, echo through the village in celebration of Christ’s Resurrection.
This task is, in general, carried out by the men of the village, with the exception of Cia Maria Palimodde, who until his death carried on the tradition handed down to her by her father.

The mural, created in 1978 by Elisabetta Montaldo, Diego Asproni, and Mario Carboni, commemorates the victims of the popular uprisings of 1868 known as the “Su Connottu Riots.”

The popular uprising, which spread to numerous Sardinian municipalities, broke out in Nuoro on April 26, 1868, following the decision to auction off state land, thus removing it from traditional collective use in the context of an economy based almost exclusively on agriculture and livestock farming. The application of the law was to the advantage of the largest landowners so that farmers and shepherds, exasperated by yet another abuse of power, rebelled by demolishing the closures deemed illegitimate.

The population stormed the town hall, burning documents to the cry of “Torramus a su Connottu!” (‘Let’s go back to the known!”), that is, to the communal land management system.
The rebellion, suppressed in blood, was the dramatic epilogue to decades of revolts against the privatization of land, desired by the Savoy government, first with the Edict of the Chiudende and then with the abolition of fulfillment rights.
The Su Connottu uprisings still stand today as a symbol of the struggle for social justice and self-determination.
The restoration of the work is part of the Oliena Municipality’s project-workshop “A scuola di murales”.

Grazia Deledda, portrayed here by Luigi Columbu, is celebrated with an inscription showing the year she was awarded the Nobel Prize (1926), which was obtained thanks to the universal breath of her literature expressed through the story of her land and its inhabitants.

The Nuoro writer’s bond with the town of Oliena is strong and full of affection. Its people, landscapes and traditions are often described by Deledda who, when she visited the village, stayed in this very area.
In her story titled San Giovanni Bello, for example, she recounts events related to the namesake festival that was held in the village’s countryside about a kilometer away from the springs of Su Gologone.
Rituals, customs, social structures, culinary preparations, music, dances, poetic competitions, nothing escapes the eye and pen of a fine investigator of reality like Grazia Deledda.
A narrator of her time and her world, capable of being relevant and universal to readers of every age and place, she is today lovingly remembered and celebrated throughout the Island.