San Paolo

San Paolo tickets: which one to buy

San Paolo is in the old centre of Olbia, on a lane a few minutes from the main shopping street, and it is free to enter. Olbia is where most visitors to north-eastern Sardinia arrive, by air or by ferry, and many of them pass straight through to the coast without seeing the town at all, which is a small mistake.

A walk of an hour covers this church, the Romanesque basilica of San Simplicio a few streets north, the archaeological museum by the harbour and the remains of the Roman and Punic town underneath all of it. Guided walking tours of the centre run in season and are inexpensive. Food tours here are good, since this is a working town rather than a resort and the prices show it. If you are waiting for a ferry or a late flight, the centre is ten minutes from the port and this is the obvious thing to do with the time.

Visiting San Paolo: what to see

The church stands on the site of a temple from the Punic and Roman town, which is the sort of continuity common in Sardinia and easy to miss from the street. The building itself is old, with thick granite walls typical of the region, and it acquired a baroque doorway and later alterations as the town grew. What everyone notices is the dome, covered in coloured majolica tiles laid in a pattern of yellow, green and blue, added in the twentieth century and now the landmark of the old centre;

it appears above the rooftops from several streets away and is unmistakable in photographs of Olbia. Inside, the vault carries painted decoration by a Sardinian artist of the same period, bright and rather modern against the old stone. The overall effect is provincial in the best sense: a church that has been added to steadily by the town rather than designed in one campaign. A side chapel holds a wooden statue carried through the streets on the patronal feast.

San Paolo opening hours and the best time to go

Olbia is busiest from June to September, when the flights and ferries run at capacity and the coast north of here fills with visitors, but the town itself never gets as crowded as the resorts. The church keeps parish hours with a long midday closure. Evening is the pleasant time in summer, when the centre comes out to walk and the restaurants put tables in the lanes.

The town festival in honour of San Simplicio in mid-May brings horse races, fireworks and a large fair, and is the best week of the year to be here. Winter is quiet, mild and cheap, with most coastal hotels closed. Olbia is the transport hub for the Costa Smeralda, so hire cars and buses all start here. Twenty minutes inside the church is enough, and the walk to San Simplicio takes about ten. Most shops in the centre close for three hours after lunch and reopen until eight.