Sardinia (pronounced Sardegna) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily). The name is of unknown origin, though it may have to do with a tribe called the Sardi.
The climate is typical of the Mediterranean. The weather is clear. During the year approximately 300 days are sunny and the few others are rainy. The NWly Mistral is the dominant wind, fresh, strong, and usually dry and cold, blowing throughout the year, but most frequently in winter and spring.
Sardinia is one of the most ancient lands in Europe, visited during the Palaeolithic period though inhabited permanently by humans only much later, in the Neolithic age, around 6,000 B.C.
Early settlers came from a number of places but as time passed, the Sardinian peoples became united in language and customs, yet remained divided politically into various smaller tribal states. Sometimes they banded together, while at others they were at war with one another. Tribes lived in villages made up of round thatched stone huts, similar to those of present-day shepherds.
From about 1500 B.C. onwards, the villages were built at the foot of truncated cone fortresses (often reinforced and enlarged with embattled towers) Today some 7,000 nuraghi dot the Sardinian landscape.
Around 1000 B.C. the Phoenicians began to land on the shores of Sardinia with increasing frequency and eventually settled and created their own towns. In 509 B.C., because the Phoenician expansion inland was becoming ever more menacing and penetrating, the native Sardinians attacked the coastal cities held by the enemy, who, in order to defend themselves, called upon Carthage for help. The Carthaginians, after a number of military campaigns, overcame the Sardinians and conquered the most mountainous region. For 271 years, the Carthaginian or Punic civilization flourished alongside the local culture.
238 B.C.saw the arrival of the Romans and they enlarged and embellished the coastal cities and with their armies even penetrated the central mountains,referred to by the Romans as Barbaria thereby bringing down the nuragic civilization. The Roman domination in Sardinia lasted 694 years and was often opposed by the Sardinians from the mountains who, nevertheless, adopted the Latin language and civilization.
In 456 A.D., when the Roman Empire was in decline, the Vandals of Africa occupied various coastal cities of Sardinia. In 534 the Vandals were defeated and Sardinia thus became Byzantine. With the Byzantines came Christianity, which spread throughout the island , except in the Barbagia region. Here, towards the end of the sixth century, a short-lived independent domain reestablished itself, with local heathen and religious traditions.
Raids and attacks by the Berbers on the Sardinian shores began in 710 and grew ever more ruinous with time. Their inhabitants abandoned the coastal towns and cities. As a result the island was divided into four parts or ‘kingdoms’ which went through a process of changing alliances and allegiances frequently for many centuries.
In 1479, as a result of the personal union of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, the Crown of Spain was born. Even the "kingdom of Sardinia became Spanish, with the state symbol of the Four Moors. (reflected today in the island’s flag.
In 1541, in order to defend his Mediterranean territories from pirate raids by the African Berbers, fortified the Sardinian shores with a system of coastal lookout towers. These can still be seen today.
The kingdom of Sardinia remained Spanish for approximately 400 years and assimilating a number of Spanish traditions, customs, and linguistic expressions, nowadays vividly portrayed in the folklore parades of Saint Elmo in Cagliari (May 1), the Cavalcade on Sassari (last but one Sunday in May), and the Redeemer in Nuoro (August 28).
In 1708, as a consequence of the Spanish War of Succession, the rule of the kingdom of Sardinia passed into the hands of the Austrians who landed on the island. In 1717 Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, minister of Felipe V of Spain, reoccupied Sardinia. In 1718, with the Treaty of London, Sardinia was handed over to the House of Savoy.
In 1848 the Italian Wars of Independence broke out for the Unification of Italy and were led by the kings of Sardinia for thirteen years with a lot of help from Garibaldi who made Isolo Caprera his home and where he is buried, and in 1861 Sardinia joined the newly founded Kingdom of Italy.
Today about ten million tourists visit the island every year.
There is even a comprehensive Sardinian railway system, developed in the 19th century, by the English engineer Lord Benjamin Piercy. Many tourists enjoy the narrow gauge trains 'trenino verde', which run through the wildest parts of the island. It is slow but allows the traveller to have scenic views impossible to see from the main road. The train connects Cagliari to Arbatax in the south and Sassari to Palau in the north.
The most spoken language in Sardinia is Italian, but Sardinian is widely spoken all over the island. Sardinian is a Romance language of Latin origin, influenced by Catalan and Spanish, but with indigenous elements, with some roots from Phoenician, Etruscan, and other Near Eastern languages.
The Maddalena Archipelago is a group of islands in the Straits of Bonifacio between Corsica and north-eastern Sardinia, Italy. It consists of seven main islands and numerous other small islets. Lying adjacent to the famous tourist resort of the Costa Smeralda, Maddalena shares the same crystal clear waters and wind blown granite coastlines but also remains a haven for wildlife. It is a designated National Park, the Parco Nazionale Arcipelago di La Maddalena, and is a very popular tourist destination, especially by yacht.
'And suddenly there is Cagliari: a naked town rising steep, steep, golden-looking, piled naked to the sky from the plain at the head of the formless hollow bay. It is strange and rather wonderful, not a bit like Italy. The city piles up lofty and almost miniature, and makes me think of Jerusalem: without trees, without cover, rising rather bare and proud, remote as if back in history, like a town in a monkish, illuminated missal. One wonders how it ever got there. And it seems like Spain - or Malta; not Italy.'
So wrote D.H.Lawrence in 'Sea and Sardinia'. Things have changed since then, as the traffic attests, but hints of Lawrence's Cagliari can be seen in the fine Spanish arcitecture, and it is possible to get away from the roar of traffic into quiet, cool, side streets and slowly wend one's way ever upwards to the 'old city' which gave Lawrence his thoughts of Jerusalem.
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Sardinia
Potted history & trivia
Although on the previous page I implied that Corsica was my favourite island, I must admit that I do spend more time sailing in Sardinian waters. This is mainly because there is a greater variety of safe harbours and anchorages. But with Bonifacio only about a two hour sail away it is easy to combine the best of both islands.
Let me share a bit of Sardinia with you.
Above. Alghero on the west coast. Below. Castelsardo on the north coast.
Below are just some of the delights of la Maddalena Islands