The Rough Guide to Sardinia (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

All islands have a peculiar fascination, and Sardinia is no exception. Lying a little less than 200km from the Italian mainland and the same distance from the Tunisian coast, it is, in the words of D.H. Lawrence, "lost between Europe and Africa and belonging to nowhere." With its own language and distinct customs, the island boasts a fiercely independent character while remaining unmistakably and exuberantly Italian. There is nothing particularly homogenous about the island, however. As the Mediterranean's second biggest island after Sicily - though, with 1.6 million people, less than a third of Sicily's population - Sardinia encompasses a range of diverse faces, from the stereotyped yachting elite of the fabled Costa Smeralda to the simple shepherd's society of the mountainous interior. The fact that you can pass from one to the other in less than an hour is part of the island's appeal. Neither image of course represents more than a tiny fraction of the true picture. There are glorious beaches and rocky shores on every coast, and also dramatic cliffs and numerous lagoons which account for a rich diversity of wildlife, as do the forested mountains and wild "macchia" that carpets the interior.

Not only the island but each of its four provinces of Cgliari, Oristano, Sssari and Nuoro has this range, while within - or sometimes transcending - these administrative boundaries, there exists a mosaic of smaller entities, historical territories each with its different traditions, dialects and historical roots - for instance Gallura, Logudoro, Sulcis, Campidano, Arborea and Barbagia, to name but a few. At a still more local level, each village celebrates its individuality at the many flamboyant festivals which take place throughout the year. Ranging from rowdy medieval pageants to dignified religious processions, these festivities help to keep tradition alive in an island where the past is inescapable.

Where to go

Sardinia's capital, Cgliari, is the best place to find traces of every phase of the island's past, from the idiosyncratic statuettes of Sardinia's mysterious nuraghic culture to the Roman theatre and Pisan citadel. The best Roman and Carthaginian ruins, however, stand a short journey outside town at Nora, evidence of the importance with which the island was regarded. Many of the Mediterranean powers that occupied the island were drawn to its mines, still visible throughout the regions of Sulcis and Iglesiente, which make up Sardinia's southwestern corner. Off the Sulcis coast, the islands of Sant'Ant'oco and San Pietro provide more archeological remains as well as some prime beaches, while the southern littoral and the Iglesiente's Costa Verde are among Sardinia's most scenic coasts.

The island's only extensive plain, the Campidano, separates Iglesiente from La Marmilla, a hilly country holding some spectacular nuraghic sites, including Sardinia's biggest, Su Nuraxi. East of Cgliari, the rugged Sarrabus area is fringed by more acres of clean sandy beaches, with resort facilities concentrated in the towns of Villasimius and Muravera. On the western coast, the province of Oristano holds an abundance of nuraghic, Carthaginian and Roman remains, the most important of which - the ruins of Tharros - lie on the Sinis peninsula, whose lagoons and beaches form a protected habitat for aquatic birds. North of here, Bosa is a low-key but attractive fishing port on a river, and Alghero attracts much of the island's tourist trade while retaining its distinctive Catalan character, the result of intense settlement 500 years ago. Stintino, on the island's northwestern tip, lies near some beaches of jaw-dropping beauty.

Inland, Sssari is Sardinia's second city, making a good base to tour some of the Pisan churches which are scattered throughout the Logudoro area south and east of here. On the north coast, picturesque Castelsardo is the chief town of Anglona, a territory indelibly associated with the Doria family of Genoa. Bordering it, Gallura is a dramatically craggy zone whose interior is swathed in cork forests and whose indented coast includes the Costa Smeralda. A host of less celebrated but equally enticing stretches of rocky or sandy shore lie nearby, clustered around such centres as Santa Teresa di Gallura - the chief port for connections with Corsica - on Sardinia's northern tip, and Palau, embarcation point for trips to the Maddalena archipelago, whose crystalline waters are also a magnet for boatloads of visitors in summer. Further down the coast, Olbia is the main entry point for most of the seasonal swarms from the mainland, though it lacks much charm.

Apart from this top section, Sardinia's eastern coast is largely inaccessible, the sheer cliff walls punctuated by a few developed spots such as Cala Gonone and by the small-scale ferry port of Arbatax. The huge central province of Nuoro occupies most of the mountainous interior, and is the best place to encounter the last remnants of the island's rural culture, particularly its costumes and village festivals. If your image of Sardinia is all shaggy sheep and offbeat folklore - the kind of place depicted in films like Padre Padrone - then these bleak slopes and isolated villages probably fit the bill. This is especially true in the central area known as Barbagia, where the sparse population is concentrated in small, insulated villages, few of which warrant spending much time in, though they provide an excellent opportunity to view the quiet life of the interior at first hand, and make useful bases for mountain rambles. Although Sardinia's peaks are not particularly high by European standards (no mountain exceeds 2000m), the terrain can be both awesome and forbidding, particularly in the central ring of the Gennargentu mountains, which are often blanketed in snow between November and March. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.