Since 2016 the Province of Nuoro has included the former Province of Ogliastra, whose name derived from the number of thousand-year-old olive trees in the area of Santa Maria Navarrese, and whose territory is mostly mountainous, with two lakes formed by the Flumendosa stream.
The province of Ogliastra had been established in May 2005; it was one of the historical 15 Prefetture in Sardinia, with capital Tortolì, though in 1821 the capital was moved to Lanusei. With the unity of Italy in 1859 the region was divided in only two provinces (Cagliari and Sassari) and Ogliastra was included in the province of Cagliari, then in 1927 into the newly established province of Nuoro.
