The history of Ortueri, a small town located in the Barbagia del Mandrolisai, is marked by the imprint of the Romans, who colonized the area following Punic penetration; the areas in which the Roman empire stabilized or were originally those of Travi and Alas Ruinas, located in the plain of Pranu and Laccos where numerous sarcophaguses were also found with incisions related to devotion to the Gods-Hands. Subsequently the Romans settled in the territories of Carrasale, Accoro, Sa Pedra Accuzza, Ortola, Barbarighinos, Trigaccori and Pedra Litterada and, later, in the areas of Procchile Campu and Pranu Lari. Several traces of the Roman passage, including several coins of the time. Of particular historical importance is the Pedra Litterada: a stone with an inscription, a precious funerary title, which has become part of the international historical heritage. The town was absorbed first by the Curatoria of Mandrolisai, then by the Giudicato of Arborea and later by the county of San Martino in the Savoy era, when the center changed into a feud before becoming an autonomous municipality.
The inhabited area extends close to the hill of Sa Serra and its historical center preserves the signs of the old peasant dwellings, which appear perched and placed side by side. The area, rich in springs, has a typically hilly profile and includes numerous vineyards and cork and holm oak forests. The name of Ortueri is in fact often linked to cork artifacts, prestigious both for their originality and for the skill of the artisans. Of particular naturalistic interest is the Mui Muscas park, the natural habitat of the Sardinian donkey that can be sighted in complete freedom. Created in 1994 for the preservation of the species, the park covers about fifty-five hectares of municipal territory and is characterized by the presence of Mediterranean scrub and forests of oak and cork trees. Inside the park area there are about 50 specimens of the Sardinian donkey that we try to protect from the now extinction.
Like most of the realities of central Sardinia, with a purely agro-pastoral vocation, Ortueri is no exception: everyday life is indeed marked by the rhythms of the agricultural year. From these rules related to the land and its productive cycles are also born festivals, experienced as a moment of aggregation among the people and as a moment of prayer, with the elaboration of propitiatory rites for the success of crops or to placate epidemics and famines. Among the religious architecture stands the parish church of San Nicolò, located in the median area of the village and dating back to the period between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The magnificent adjacent bell tower, which is 38 meters high and second in Sardinia only to the Mores bell tower, cannot be overlooked. The building is dedicated to the patron saint who is celebrated on the third Sunday of May and to whom the entire population is devoted, who during the event prepares and offers visitors the typical votive bread called S'Angule. To remember are also the feast for Our Lady of Sorrows, falling on the third Sunday of September and the feast of Santa Maria held on the eighth of September, with a Mass proclaimed in the homonymous rural church.