Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to Sardinia (Travel Guide eBook)

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Introduction to

Sardinia

Undeniably and exuberantly Italian, yet expressing a unique regional identity, Sardinia presents a distinctive take on the Mediterranean island experience. Its position midway between the Italian mainland and the North African coast, and the traces left by the many invaders and settlers who shaped its history, have together forged a hybrid, fragmented character lost between Europe and Africa, as D.H. Lawrence put it, and belonging to nowhere. In fact the Sard people reject the need to belong anywhere. While accepting their shared Italian culture, they are also passionately loyal to their island home in all its diversity, from the rocky headlands and secluded beaches on the coast to the forested mountains and pungent expanses of wilderness in the interior.

Together with these physical differences go deep cultural contrasts, often corresponding to the mosaic of smaller territories that make up the island. From Gallura and Logudoro in the north to Sulcis and Sarrabus in the south, each has its own traditions, dialects and historical roots. At a still more local level, each village celebrates its individuality at the many flamboyant festivals that take place throughout the year, ranging from rowdy medieval pageants to dignified religious processions, all helping to keep tradition alive in an island where the past is inescapable.

Sardinias Pisan churches

Visitors to Sardinia who have spent any time in Tuscany may be surprised to discover a whole string of Romanesque churches scattered throughout the island which would look more at home in that mainland region. The odd juxtaposition is due to the close association of Pisa with Sardinia between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. Religious orders were introduced and architects imported, leading to the construction of churches all over the island, with a particular concentration in the Logudoro and Anglona areas of northern Sardinia. Youll encounter the characteristic black-and-white pattern in the unlikeliest of places, sometimes in remote countryside, such as the marooned-looking Santssima Trinit di Saccargia . Two of the most monumental examples, San Gavino and San Simplicio , seem lost among the quiet backstreets of Porto Torres and Olbia respectively. Most of the surviving specimens are in a good state of repair, but the interiors have little in the way of decoration which helps to preserve their murky medieval atmosphere intact.

And yet, while Sardinia is big enough to accommodate this range of diverse faces its the Mediterraneans second-biggest island after Sicily (though with less than a third of Sicilys population) its small and manageable enough to allow you to travel from the sleek yachts and glistening beaches of the fabled Costa Smeralda to the granite stazzi , or farm dwellings, of the mountainous interior in less than an hour.

Fact file

• Sardinia (Sardegna in Italian) has a population of 1.66 million, and nearly twice that number of sheep . The flocks have diminished significantly in recent years, but the Italian mainlands cartoon caricature of the Sards perpetuates the image of the wily shepherd, be-capped and in brown corduroys, or else swathed in hairy sheepskins. The local sheeps cheese, Pecorino Sardo , is one of Italys most flavoursome cheeses.
• Sardinias position on the chief Mediterranean trade routes has ensured that it has rarely been free of foreign intervention though this has endowed the island with a rich heritage of archeological and artistic monuments. The most truly Sardinian remains, however, are prehistoric, notably the fairy houses, giants tombs and seven thousand-odd nuraghi (stone towers) dotted around.
• Despite the centuries of occupation, Sardinia has retained a fiercely independent identity . Since 1948 the island has had a degree of regional autonomy , but only a minority of the population supports the separatist cause.
• The official Sardinian flag is known as the Quattro Mori, for the four Moors depicted on a white background. Until 1999, the four were blindfolded and facing west towards Spain, the former colonial ruler but the flag was altered to show the heads unblindfolded and looking east: liberated, enlightened and gazing steadily across to the Italian mainland.

Where to go

Sardinias lively capital, Cgliari , is a microcosm of the islands diversity, with traces of every phase of the islands past, from the spindly statuettes of the prehistoric nuraghic culture to a Roman theatre and Pisan citadel. Some of the finest Roman and Carthaginian ruins are a short journey outside town at Nora , one of a number of sites that attest to Sardinias former prominence in Mediterranean trade. Many of the powers that occupied the island were drawn to its mines, still visible throughout the regions of Sulcis and Iglesiente , west of Cgliari. Off the Sulcis coast, the islands of SantAntoco and San Pietro provide more archeological remains, while the southern littoral and the Iglesientes Costa Verde are among Sardinias most scenic coastlines.

La Marmilla , a hilly region north of Cgliari, contains Sardinias greatest nuraghic site, Su Nuraxi , while the rugged Sarrabus area east of the capital is fringed by some of the islands most spectacular beaches. Halfway up Sardinias western side, the province of Oristano holds numerous nuraghic, Carthaginian and Roman remains, the most important of which, the ruins of Tharros , lie on the Sinis peninsula , whose lagoons and coasts attract aquatic birds and beach pilgrims respectively. North of here, the picturesque river port of Bosa is separated by a long, unspoiled stretch of rocky coast from the popular resort of Alghero , which retains its distinctive Catalan character, the result of intensive settlement five centuries ago. Stintino , on the islands northwestern tip, lies near some beaches of jaw-dropping beauty.

Inland, Sardinias second city, Sssari , makes a good base for touring the Pisan churches scattered throughout the Logudoro area to the south and east. Strikingly situated on a promontory of the north coast, Castelsardo is the chief town of Anglona , a region indelibly associated with the Doria family of Genoa one of the Mediterraneans leading mercantile powers in the Middle Ages. Bordering it, Gallura s jagged-peaked interior makes a dramatic backdrop to its famously beautiful granite coastline, where the Costa Smeralda remains an exclusive enclave for celebs and tycoons. This and other areas of the northeast coast hold some enticing stretches of rocky or sandy shore, with some of the best beaches clustered around Palau , embarkation point for trips to the beautiful Maddalena archipelago , and Santa Teresa Gallura on Sardinias northern tip, the chief port for connections with Corsica.

Below Olbia the main entry point from the mainland most of Sardinias eastern coast is largely inaccessible, the sheer cliff walls punctuated by a few developed holiday spots such as Cala Gonone and Santa Maria Navarrese . The provinces of Nuoro and Ogliastra occupy most of the mountainous interior of this coast, and are the best places to encounter the last authentic remnants of the islands rural culture, particularly its costumes and village festivals. This is especially true in the central area known as Barbagia , where the sparse population is concentrated in small, insulated villages that provide an excellent opportunity to view the quiet life of the interior at first hand, and make useful bases for mountain rambles. If your image of Sardinia is all shaggy sheep and offbeat folklore the kind of place depicted in films like Padre Padrone then these mountain slopes will probably fit the bill.