The modern-day town centre was probably founded just before the year 1000, in an area where the town of Usulvì once stood, famous for a Camaldolese convent and destroyed in the early Middle Ages. Bultei is an old agricultural town with around 1000 inhabitants in the Goceano area, in the foothills of the Marghine mountain chain and on the border with the province of Nuoro. The area is mainly mountainous, and has traces of settlement dating back to the Neolithic, including several domus de Janas and other Bronze Age Nuraghic remains. The most interesting is the Tilariga Nuraghe, dating from the 15th to 11th century BC, which stands on a small hill above the town, formed of a central tower and a bastion with another three towers.