You can find about travel advice such as public places & services, best restaurants, activities, sightseen and other key facts of the Sardinia, Italy .
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia and immediately south of the French island of Corsica.It is one of the five Italian regions that have been granted some degree of domestic autonomy by special statute.[5] Its official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city. The capital of the region of Sardinia and its largest city is Cagliari. Sardinia's indigenous language and the other minority languages spoken on the island are officially recognized by the regional law as having "equal dignity" with Italian.
Sardinia has been inhabited since the Paleolithic. The island's most notable civilization is the indigenous Nuragic, which flourished from the 18th century BC to either 238 BC or the 2nd century AD in some parts of the island, and to the 6th century AD in that part of the island known as Barbagia. After a period in which the island was ruled by a political and economic alliance between the Nuragic Sardinians and the Phoenicians, parts of it were conquered by Carthage in the late 6th century BC, and by Rome in 238 BC. The Roman occupation lasted for 700 years. Beginning in the Early Middle Ages, the island was ruled by the Vandals and the Byzantines. In practice, the island was disconnected from Byzantium's territorial influence, which allowed the Sardinians to provide themselves with a self-ruling political organization, the four kingdoms known as Judicates. The Italian maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa struggled to impose political control over these indigenous kingdoms, but it was the Iberian Crown of Aragon which, in 1324, succeeded in bringing the island under its control, consolidating it into the Kingdom of Sardinia. This Iberian kingdom endured until 1718, when it was ceded to the Alpine House of Savoy and later politically merged with the other Savoyard domains on the Italian Mainland. Later, during the period of Italian unification, the Savoyards expanded their domains to include the entire Italian peninsula; their territory was renamed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, and it was reconstituted as the present-day Italian Republic in 1946.
Due to the variety of Sardinia's ecosystems, which include mountains, woods, plains, stretches of largely uninhabited territory, streams, rocky coasts, and long sandy beaches, Sardinia has been metaphorically described as a micro-continent. In the modern era, many travelers and writers have extolled the beauty of its long-untouched landscapes, which retain vestiges of the Nuragic civilization.
Foods in Sardinia, Italy :
(1) Su Porcheddu :
Among the most famous meat dishes on the island, and a real countryside tradition, Su Porcheddu is better known as roast suckling pig, usually cooked on a spit for up to five hours. The result is a delicious and crispy piece of meat, often served at special occasions such as weddings.
(2) Culurgiones :
Among the tastiest pasta dishes in the whole of Italy, the pasta in Culurgiones is filled with a combination of potato, pecorino cheese, animal fats, garlic, olive oil and mint leaves, creating a striking flavour. A topping of sweet tomato sauce takes the dish to an even greater depth of flavour.
(3) Zuppa Gallurese :
Like a hybrid of lasagne and savoury bread and butter pudding, Zuppa Gallurese is a traditional dish from Sardinia’s north-west. Sheep broth and meat are layered amid stale flat bread, adding a unique flavour to this hearty dish.
(4) Malloreddus :
This is Sardinia’s famous pasta shape, and many first courses comprise this ‘bowl-like’ concoction. The pasta is made from semolina and saffron and is shaped in its distinctive style in order to catch sauce and grated cheese within dishes.
(5) Spezzatino di Vitello con Piselli :
Another meaty fixture on the traditional Sardinian countryside menu, this dish comprises a delicious veal stew served with peas. The simplicity of this dish is not matched by its flavour, with a dynamic and rich flavour resonating after each mouthful.
(6) Pane Carasau :
This wafer-thin light bread is the classic foundation to any Sardinian starter. The bread is crispy, with a poppadum-like texture, and is attributed to an ancient shepherd recipe. Typically, Pane Carasau accompanies meats and cheese on an antipasto spread.
(7) Pecorino Sardo :
The home cheese of Sardinia, Pecorino Sardo is bound to be accomplished if you consider that the island boasts over 5,000 years of cheese production. The cheese is made from sheep’s milk, with kid stomach enzymes added in the curdling process. It’s rich and sharp flavour is best enjoyed grated on top of a pasta dish or melted in a grilled sandwich.
Weather & geography in Sardinia, Italy :
The average temperature is between 11 to 17 °C (52 to 63 °F), with mild winters and warm summers on the coasts (9 to 11 °C (48 to 52 °F) in January, 23 to 26 °C (73 to 79 °F) in July), and cold winters and cool summers on the mountains (−2 to 4 °C (28 to 39 °F) in January, 16 to 20 °C (61 to 68 °F) in July).Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus), with an area of 24,100 km2 (9,305 sq mi). It is situated between 38° 51' and 41° 18' latitude north (respectively Isola del Toro and Isola La Presa) and 8° 8' and 9° 50' east longitude (respectively Capo dell'Argentiera and Capo Comino). To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea; to Sardinia's east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is also an element of the Mediterranean Sea.
Lake Omodeo, the largest reservoir in Sardinia and in Italy.The nearest land masses are (clockwise from north) the island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands, and Provence. The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula. The Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica.The coasts of Sardinia are 1,849 km (1,149 mi) long. They are generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches of coastline, many outstanding headlands, a few wide, deep bays, rias, many inlets and with various smaller islands off the coast.
The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone. Its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era (up to 500 million years old). Due to long erosion processes, the island's highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt (called jaras or gollei), sandstone and dolomite limestone (called tonneri or "heels"), average at between 300 to 1,000 m (984 to 3,281 ft). The highest peak is Punta La Marmora (Perdas Carpìas in Sardinian language) (1,834 m (6,017 ft)), part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of the island. Other mountain chains are Monte Limbara (1,362 m (4,469 ft)) in the northeast, the Chain of Marghine and Goceano (1,259 m (4,131 ft)) running crosswise for 40 km (25 mi) towards the north, the Monte Albo (1,057 m (3,468 ft)), the Sette Fratelli Range in the southeast, and the Sulcis Mountains and the Monte Linas (1,236 m (4,055 ft)). The island's ranges and plateaux are separated by wide alluvial valleys and flatlands, the main ones being the Campidano in the southwest between Oristano and Cagliari and the Nurra in the northwest.
Sardinia has few major rivers, the largest being the Tirso, 151 km (94 mi) long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia, the Coghinas (115 km (71 mi)) and the Flumendosa (127 km (79 mi)). There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity. The main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas. The only natural freshwater lake is Lago di Baratz. A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the coastline.
Per day Cost in Sardinia, Italy :
You should plan to spend around €96 ($114) per day on your vacation in Cagliari, which is the average daily price based on the expenses of other visitors. Past travelers have spent, on average, €28 ($33) on meals for one day and €24 ($29) on local transportation.
History of Sardinia, Italy :
Sardinia is one of the most geologically ancient bodies of land in Europe. The island was populated in various waves of immigration from prehistory until recent times.The first people to settle in Sardinia during the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic came from Continental Europe; Paleolithic inhabitation of the island is demonstrated by the evidences in Oliena's Corbeddu Cave; during the Mesolithic era some populations, particularly from present-day Tyrrhenian coast of Italy, managed to move to northern Sardinia via Corsica. The Neolithic Revolution was introduced in the 6th millennium BC by the Cardial culture coming from the Italian Peninsula. In the mid-Neolithic period, the Ozieri culture, probably of Aegean origin, flourished on the island spreading the hypogeum tombs known as domus de Janas, while the Arzachena culture of Gallura built the first megaliths: circular tombs. In the early 3rd millennium BC, the metallurgy of copper and silver began to develop.
During the late Chalcolithic the so-called Beaker culture, coming from various parts of Continental Europe, appeared in Sardinia. These new people predominantly settled on the west coast, where the majority of the sites attributed to them had been found. The Beaker culture was followed in the early Bronze Age by the Bonnanaro culture which showed both reminiscences of the Beaker and influences by the Polada culture.As time passed the different Sardinian populations appear to have become united in customs, yet remained politically divided into various small, tribal groupings, at times banding together against invading forces from the sea, and at others waging war against each other. Habitations consisted of round thatched stone huts.
Language in Sardinia, Italy :
Sardinian language, Sardinian limba Sarda or lingua Sarda, also called Sardu, Italian Sardo, Romance language spoken by the more than 1.5 million inhabitants of the central Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
Culture of Sardinia, Italy :
Sardinia is the only autonomous region in Italy where its special Statute uses the term popolo (distinct people) to refer to its inhabitants. While this formula is also used by Veneto, which unlike Sardinia is an ordinary region, the Sardinian Statute is adopted with a constitutional law. In both cases, such term is not meant to imply any legal difference between Sardinians and any other citizen of the country.Of the prehistoric architecture in Sardinia there are numerous testimonies such as the domus de janas (hypogeic tombs), the Giants' grave, the megalithic circles, the menhirs, the dolmens and the well temples however, the element that more than any other characterizes the Sardinian prehistoric landscape are the nuraghe the remains of thousands of these Bronze Age buildings of various types (simple and complex) are still visible today. There are also numerous traces left by the Phoenicians and Punics who introduced new urban forms on the coasts.The Romans gave a new administrative structure to the whole island through the restructuring of several cities, the creation of new centers and the construction of many infrastructures of which the ruins remain, such as the palace of Re Barbaro in Porto Torres or the Roman Amphitheatre of Cagliari. Even from the early Christian and Byzantine epoch there are several testimonies throughout the territory both on the coasts and inside, especially linked to buildings of worship.A particular development had Romanesque architecture during the Judicates period. Starting from 1063 the Sardinian Judges (judikes), through substantial donations, had favored the arrival to the island of monks of different orders from various regions of Italy and France. These circumstances favored in turn the arrival to the island of workers from Pisa, Lombardy, Provence and Muslim Spain, giving rise to unprecedented artistic manifestations, marked by the fusion of these experiences.
The cornerstone in the evolution of Romanesque architectural forms was the basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres.Among the most relevant examples there are the cathedrals of Sant'Antioco di Bisarcio (Ozieri), San Pietro di Sorres in Borutta, San Nicola di Ottana, the palatine chapel of Santa Maria del Regno of Ardara, the Santa Giusta Cathedral, Nostra Signora di Tergu, the Basilica di Saccargia in Codrongianos and Santa Maria di Uta and, of the 13th century, the cathedrals of Santa Maria di Monserrato (Tratalias) and San Pantaleo (Dolianova). As for military architecture, numerous castles to defend the territory were built during this period. At the beginning of the 14th century date the fortifications and towers of Cagliari, designed by Giovanni Capula.After their arrival in 1324, the Aragonese concentrated the first realizations in Cagliari; the oldest Catalan Gothic church in Sardinia is the shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria. Also in Cagliari in the same years the Aragonese chapel was built inside the cathedral. In the first half of the fifteenth century a real Gothic jewel was built, the complex of San Domenico, which included the church and the convent, almost completely destroyed during the air raids of 1943, and of which only the cloister remains. Other works were the churches of San Francesco of Stampace (of which only a part of the cloister remains), Sant'Eulalia and San Giacomo. In Alghero in the second half of the fifteenth century the construction of the church of San Francesco and in the sixteenth century of the cathedral began.
Crypt of the Cagliari CathedralRenaissance architecture, although poorly represented, includes notable examples such as the installation of the cathedral of San Nicola di Sassari (late Gothic but with a strong Renaissance influence), the church of Sant'Agostino di Cagliari (designed by Palearo Fratino), the church of Santa Caterina in Sassari (designed by Bernardoni, a pupil of Vignola).On the contrary, the Baroque architecture has found wide prominence, interesting examples are the Collegiata di Sant'Anna in Cagliari, the facade of the Cathedral of San Nicola in Sassari, the church of San Michele in Cagliari, as well as the cathedral of Cagliari, Ales and Oristano, rebuilt or modified between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Starting from the nineteenth century, new architectural forms of neoclassical inspiration spread throughout the island. Among the most important figures of this architectural and urban phase is that of the architect from Cagliari Gaetano Cima, whose works are scattered throughout the Sardinian territory Alongside the works of Cima, it is worth mentioning those of Giuseppe Cominotti (Palazzo and Civic Theater of Sassari) and Antonio Cano (dome of S. Maria di Betlem in Sassari and the cathedral of Santa Maria della Neve in Nuoro). In the second half of the nineteenth century in Sassari was built the neo Gothic palace Giordano (1878) which is one of the earliest examples of revivalism in the island.An interesting realization of eclectic style, derived from the union between revivalist and Art Nouveau models, appears to be the City hall of Cagliari, completed in the early twentieth century. The advent of fascism has strongly influenced architecture in Sardinia in the twenties and thirties interesting achievements of that period are the new centers of Fertilia, Arborea and the city of Carbonia, one of the greatest examples of rationalist architecture.
Place to visit in Sardinia, Italy :
(1) Cagliari and Southern Sardinia
(2) Nuraghe Su Nuraxi
(3) Costa Smeralda
(4) Alghero
(5) Nuraghe Losa
(6) Arzachena Prehistoric Sites
(7) Santa Cristina Nuraghe and the Holy Well
(8) Valle dei Nuraghi (Valley of Nuraghi)
(9) Nuoro and the Gennargentu
(10) Tharros
Hotel in Sardinia, Italy :
(1) Hotel Club Saraceno
(2) Hotel Corte Bianca - Adults Only & SPA- Bovis Hotels
(3) Hotel Palazzo Sa Pischedda
(4) BAITA MAORE
How to reach in Sardinia, Italy :
There are two main ways to get to Sardinia by Air or by Sea. Flying is by far the quickest way to reach the island, and much cheaper when compared to any rail to ferry options. Travelling by ferry gives you the option of bringing your vehicle with you.
Travel Guide for Sardinia, Italy : Food, hotel, Cost, Weather & geography, History, language, culture, things to see and do and how to reach. – Published by The Beyond News (Travelling).