One of the various known theories concerning the origin of the name of Dorgali, located on the eastern border of Barbagia in the central eastern coast of Sardinia (figs. 1, 2, 3), in addition to that of Turcàli, so-called because of the invasion by the Turks, is that a certain Drugàl was the founder of the village and that his people were descendants of the Saracens.

Another hypothesis assumes that the name Dorgali derives from Sulcalis, which refers to the crack of the inlet of Fuili. Some authors instead believe that the origin of the name Dorgali should not be sought in the invasion by the Turks (Turcàili), nor in the one by the Saracens (Drugàl), but from an etymological point of view it could be attributed to the word "sorga" (spring, source). There is the memory of a fountain called Orga (spring) at the centre of the village, which with the augmentative form became Orgali. Through subsequent adjustments it became S'Orgale and finally Dorgali. The presence in the town and nearby of numerous religious buildings dedicated to saints belonging to the eastern menologium suggests the existence of today’s town already in the Byzantine Age. During the early fourteenth century when there were roughly 250/300 inhabitants, it was annexed to the curatoria Galtellì of the Giudicato of Gallura and was one of the most populous centres of its southern part.

It is mentioned as Villa Dorguali in the Compartiment de Sardenya, i.e. the description drafted in 1358 by Pietro IV The Ceremonious regarding Sardinian villages owned by the Aragonese. Moreover it is among those villages which paid their tithes to the Roman Curia during the middle of the fourteenth century. In the Chorographia Sardiniae (1580-1589) by Giovanni Francesco Fara it appears as oppidum Drugali.

Fig. 1 - The territory of Dorgali (from CARTA 2006, p. 419).

Fig. 2 - Overview of the village (from CARTA 2006, p. 428).

Fig. 3 - Early twentieth century, costume from Dorgali (from http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it/mmt/480/34813.jpg).