About Sardinia

The Emerald Isle is seeped in ancient folklore and frequented by the rich
and powerful. Also known as, "The Aga Khans' playground", the Island sits
in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and has changed very little since
the middle ages.

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily). The area of Sardinia is 24,090 square kilometres (9,301 sq mi). The island is surrounded (clockwise from north) by the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands. Sardinia is a constitutional part of Italy, with a special statute of regional autonomy under the Italian Constitution.

Getting There

Direct flights from the UK are with Ryan Air, Stanstead to Alghero. Easyjet,
Gatwick to Olbia or Luton to Cagliari.

History

Around the beginning of the nuragic age circa 1500 BC the island was first called Hyknusa (Latinized Ichnusa) by the Mycenaeans, probably meaning island (nusa) of the Hyksos, the people who had just been expelled by Ahmose I of Egypt circa 1540 BC. Sandalyon was another name, probably due to its shape, resembling a footprint. Its present name is Sardinia, after the Shardana (whose invasion of Egypt was defeated by Ramesses III circa 1180 BC).

Sardinia has been inhabited for many thousands of years. In 1979 human remains were found that were dated to the 150,000 BC. In 2004, in a cave in Logudoro, a human phalanx was found that was dated to circa 250,000 BC.

In prehistory the inhabitants of Sardinia developed a trade in obsidian, a volcanic glass used for the production of stone age tools, and this activity brought Sardinians into contact with most of the Mediterranean people. Dried grapes, recently found in several locations, have been DNA tested and proved to be the oldest grapes in the world, dating back to 1200 BC. The Cannonau wine is made from these grapes and may therefore qualify as the mother of all the European wines. Sardinia is the 2nd largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

View Properties in Sardinia

From Neolithic times until the Roman Empire, the Nuragic civilisation developed on the island. There are still more than 9,000 Nuraghe extant. It is speculated that, along with other peoples, the Shardana people from the eastern Mediterranean settled in Sardinia. The Shardana had joined the Shekelesh and others to form the coalition of the Sea Peoples, but were defeated by Ramesses III around 1180 BC in Egypt. The Shardana and Shekelesh were also called by the Egyptians "the people from the faraway islands", suggesting that the Shardana were already resident on Sardinia at the time. This assertion may hold some truth; it has been claimed that most of the tombe dei giganti have a tombstone shaped like a ship vertically sunk into the ground, bearing witness to their sea traveling activities. In truth, only those 'tombas' found in the north and middle of the island bear this feature, the southern examples bearing a definite Mycenaean style of architecture. Evidence of early trade and contact with other Mediterranean cultures exist; for example, fine ceramic products of ancient Cydonia on Crete have been found at Sardinian archaeological sites.[1] According to some linguistic studies, the town of Sardis (in Lydia) would have been the starting point from which they would have reached the Tyrrhenian Sea, dividing into what were to become the Sardinians and the Etruscans.

The density, extensiveness, and sheer size of the architectural remains from the Neolithic period all point to a considerable population of the island. Early contact with Crete is indicated from archaeological recovery on Sardinia. Beginning around 1000 BC, Phoenician mariners established several ports of trade on the Sardinian coast. In 509 BC, war broke out between the native Nuragic people and the Phoenician settlers. The settlers called for help from Carthage (themselves ultimately Phoenician settlers), and the island became a province in the Carthaginian Empire (to this day, Sardinia's capital Cagliari is still nicknamed 'Kartago' or 'Carthage' by the Catalan population in northern Alghero). In 238 BC, after being defeated by the Roman Republic in the First Punic War, Carthage was forced to fight an uprising against former mercenaries who had not received their promised pay in a conflict known as the Mercenary War. Rome jumped at this opportunity to annex Corsica and Sardinia without resistance from the overstretched Carthaginians.

During the Roman period, the geographer Ptolemy noted that Sardinia was inhabited by the following peoples, from north to south: the Tibulati and the Corsi, the Coracenses, the Carenses and the Cunusitani, the Salcitani and the Lucuidonenses, the Æsaronenses, the Æchilenenses (also called Cornenses), the Rucensi, the Celsitani and the Corpicenses, the Scapitani and the Siculensi, the Neapolitani and the Valentini, as well as the Solcitani and the Noritani. Ptol. III, 3.

From 456 - 534, Sardinia was a part of the short-lived kingdom of the Vandals in North Africa, until it was reconquered by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. During this time a considerable number of Vandals and Iranian Alans settled on the island with significant traces of their Haplogroup I (Y-DNA) there to this day. Under the Byzantines, the imperial representative was a judge who governed from the southern city of Caralis. Byzantine rule was practically nonexistent in the mountainous Barbagia region in the eastern part of the island, and an independent kingdom persisted there from the sixth through ninth centuries.

Beginning in the eighth century, Arabs and Berbers began raiding Sardinia. After the Muslim conquest of Sicily in 832, the Byzantines were unable to effectively defend their most distant province, and the provincial judge assumed independent authority. To provide for local defense, he divided the island into four giudicati, Gallura, Logudoro, Arborea, and Caralis. By 900, these districts had become four independent monarchies. At various times, these fell under the sway of Genoa and Pisa. The town of Sassari proclaimed itself a free Republic, allied to Genoa, in 1290. Following the 1297 grant by Pope Boniface VIII of the title of King of Sardinia and Corsica to James II of Aragon, in 1323 the Kingdom of Aragon began a campaign to conquer Sardinia, in alliance with the Arborea. After defeating Pisa and establishing a new monarchy called Kingdom of Sardinia among the crown (i.e. commonwealth) of Aragon in 1324, relations between the two allies became difficult and they fought each other for nearly one century; the Arborea successfully resisted the kingdom of Sardinia and for a time came to control the entire island but the cities of Cagliari and Alghero. However its last ruler William III of Narbonne, was eventually defeated by the Aragonese in the decisive Battle of Sanluri, June 30, 1409. The native population of the city of Alghero (S'Alighera in Sardinian, L'Alguer in Catalan) was expelled and the city repopulated by the Catalan invaders, whose descendants still speak Catalan. After the merging of the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, Sardinia was incorporated into the newly created national entity, Spain. The kingdom of Sardinia had own political organization, chiefly a parliament and a viceroy.

Under Spanish domination, Sardinians were regularly employed on the royal Spanish fleet. On October 7 in 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto, Sardinian mariners on board the admiral ship of Infante Don John of Austria, half brother of Felipe II, boarded the Turkish admiral ship, overpowered the crew, and beheaded a Turkish admiral[citation needed]. The sight of the admiral's head on a spear put such fear into the Turks that they abandoned the fight and surrendered completely to the Christians. This was the first time that the Turks lost a battle to Europeans, thus signaling a trend of military decline and defeats from which Turks never recovered.
In 1718 Sardinia became an 'independent' vassal kingdom under the House of Savoy, the rulers of Piedmont. In 1792, Jean-Paul Marat, son of a Sardinian father from Cagliari and a Swiss mother, was one of the triumvirate leading the French Revolution. In 1793, Sardinians rebelled, demanding autonomy in exchange for helping to defeat French invasion forces. Autonomy was granted within the united kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, but after the French threat to the kingdom lessened, the king reclaimed his authority. In 1847 the king Carlo Alberto, after a request by Sardinian parliament, ordered the perfect fusion between Sardinia and his other continental States, thus ending a five-century autonomy. In 1848 he granted a constitution, called statuto albertino, which lasted up to 1948 when Italy adopted the present republican constitution. In 1860, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became also the first King of a united Italy, after conquering the rest of the peninsula.

In 1948 Sardinia was granted a constitutional autonomy, with its own regional Council, Government and President.

Geography

Sardinia is separated from Corsica by the Strait of Bonifacio.

Sardinia is a generally mountainous island with a few coastal plains. The island's mountains are divided into three ranges; the highest peaks are in the middle section of the island. Punta La Marmora in the Gennargentu mountain range, at 6,016 feet (1,834 m), is the highest point in Sardinia. Sardinia has few major rivers; the largest river on the island is the Tirso, which has a length of 94 miles (151 km) and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The island has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and very mild winters. The climate in the mountains tends to be wetter and cooler than the lower coastal plains; and winter snowfalls are not uncommon in the higher peaks. Sardinia also has more mountains than flat, low land and forests.

Culture

Sardinia is one of two Italian regions whose inhabitants have been recognized as a "popolo" (i.e. a distinct people) by a local Statute (which is adopted with a Constitutional Law). The other region is Veneto (but this was not through a Constitutional Law).

Music

Sardinia is one of the world's most interesting musical destinations. It is home to one of the oldest forms of Vocal Polyphony, generally known as Canto a Tenores; several big names of music have found it irresistible, including Frank Zappa, Ornette Coleman, and Peter Gabriel. The latter travelled to the town of Bitti in the central mountain region, and recorded the now world-famous Tenores di Bitti CD on his Realworld label. The guttural sounds produced in this form make a truly remarkable sound, similar to Tuvan (Mongolia) throat singing. Another polyphonic style of singing, more like the Corsican Paghjella and liturgic in nature, is also found in Sardinia and is known as Cantu a Cuncordu.

Another unique instrument is the launeddas. Three reed-canes (2 of them glued together with beeswax) producing distinctive harmonies, which have their roots many thousands of years ago, as demonstrated by the bronzette from Ittiri, of a man playing the 3 reed canes, dated to 2000 BC.

Beyond this, the tradition of Cantos a Chiterra (guitar songs) has its origins in town squares, when artists would compete against one another. It lives on in new forms. Sardinian culture is alive and well, and young people are actively involved in their own music and dancing.

Economy

The Sardinian economy is today focused on tourism, mining, commerce, services and information technology; an increasing income is coming from its famous wines and gastronomy. The island contains numerous extraordinary tourist areas, Alghero, North West, with Capo Caccia astonishing cliffs and the famous Neptun Cave, and including the Costa Smeralda and Gennargentu. The island is particularly famous for its beaches, but is also rich in other interesting places, such as some charming sea towns and archaeological ruins.

Environment

Sardinia is a precious natural resource, containing thousands of rare or uncommon animal and autochthonous plants and animals, such as the Mediterranean Monk Seal and the boar. Found only in Sardinia, Sicily, and MaghrebIt, the Sardinian skink (genus Chalcides ocellatus) known more commonly as Tiligugu, can reach 30 cm (12 in) in length, of which almost half is made up by the tail. Sardinia lacks many common species however, like the viper and the marmot, which are found everywhere else on the continent. Sardinia has four endemic subspecies of birds which are found nowhere else in the world: its Great Spotted Woodpecker (ssp harterti), Great Tit (ssp ecki), Chaffinch (ssp sarda) and Eurasian Jay (ssp ichnusae). It also shares a further 10 endemic subspecies of bird with Corsica. The island's environment is improving due to strict environment laws.

Adapted by Nico Ricioppo from "Sardinia" in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia; (Wikimedia Foundation Inc., updated 24 July 2008)