Gennargentu is a large massif in central-southern Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, encompassing the provinces of Nuoro and Ogliastra

Province of Ogliastra

Ogliastra is a province in eastern Sardinia, Italy. Ogliastra is the most mountainous province in Sardinia. With only some 58,000 inhabitants, it is also the least populous province of Italy. It corresponds roughly to the medieval Giudicato of Agugliastra...

. It includes the highest peaks in the island, such as Punta La Marmora

Punta La Marmora

Punta La Marmora is a mountain in the Gennargentu range, Ogliastra and Nuoro provinces, Sardinia, Italy in the Barbagia mountain area of inner Sardinia . With its summit at an elevation of 1,834 m, it is the highest peak in the island...

 (1,834 m), Monte Spada (1,595 m), Punta Erba Irdes (1,676 m), Bruncu Spina (1,829 m) and Punta Paulinu (1,792 m).

The range forms part of the Gennargentu National Park

Gennargentu National Park

The Gennargentu National Park is a national park on the east coast of Sardinia....

. Geologically, its rocks are amongst the oldest in Europe, and have therefore a mild shape: rock types include schist

Schist

The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...

, limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 and granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

.

Toponymy

The etymology of toponymy Gennargentu isn't attested, it could mean Door of Silver (Sardinian language

Sardinian language

Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....

: jenna de argentu), Door of the Winds (Sardinian language

Sardinian language

Sardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....

: Jenna de bentu ) or Door of absinthium.

Ski Resorts

On the massif are located the only ski resorts of the island: on Monte Spada, Bruncu Spina, Separadorgiu and S'Arena.

See also

• Gennargentu National Park
  Gennargentu National Park
  The Gennargentu National Park is a national park on the east coast of Sardinia....