Barbagia (Italian: [barˈbaːdʒa]; Sardinian: Barbàgia or Barbàza) is a geographical, cultural and natural region of inner Sardinia, contained for the most part in the province of Nuoro and Ogliastra and located alongside the Gennargentu massif.
[1] The name comes from Cicero, who described the land as inhabited by barbarians; Roman domination over this part of the island was in fact never more than nominal as a result of the Roman-Sardinian Wars.
The Sardinians, many of whose revolts came from this area, were also mocked by the ancient Romans with the pejorative term latrones mastrucati 'thieves wearing rough woolen garments'.
In 594, Pope Gregory the Great wrote a letter to Hospito, a Christian whom he calls the "leader of the Barbaricini" (dux barbaricinorum).
The economy consists of agriculture, sheep breeding, art and tradition related business, tourism and light industry.