Nuoro (Italian pronunciation: [ˈnuːoro] ⓘ or less correctly [ˈnwɔːro];[3] Sardinian: Nùgoro [ˈnuɣɔɾɔ])[3][a] is a city and comune (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of Mount Ortobene.

The earliest traces of human settlement in the Nuoro area (called " the Nuorese") are the so-called Domus de janas, rock-cut tombs dated at the third millennium BC.

[citation needed] Nuoro remained a town of average importance under the Aragonese and Spanish domination of Sardinia, until famine and plague struck it in the late 17th century.

[citation needed] Since 1972 in Nuoro is active the Istituto superiore regionale etnografico (ISRE), which is an institution that promotes the study and documentation of the social and cultural life of Sardinia in its traditional manifestations and its transformations.

[13][14] The name in Sardinian language means "the threads (or wool) of God" and is made exclusively by the women of a single family in the town, with the recipe being passed down through generations.