The southern end of Sardinia is uncorrupted by mass-market tourism. There are plenty of sheep, but humans are thin on the ground, even in high season, which means an absence of litter, pollution and the rip-offs common in resort areas. The Mediterranean is shimmeringly inviting and algae-free. Inland, tortuous roads link remote villages where a pale skin may invite curious stares. In mainstream Italian cities to call someone a Sard is the equivalent of calling him a bog-trotter – backward and unworldly. Brigands do exist but, though hyped by the media, they are few and mostly preoccupied with private vendettas.

Sardinia was once strategically important in Mediterranean power politics. Before Admiral Nelson failed to buy it for £½ million the Spanish established vines and before them the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Pisans and Saracens planted landmarks of their different civilizations. Before that, perhaps around 2,000 BC, a mysterious people of unknown origin built conical stone citadels called nuraghi (singular: nuraghe), peculiar to Sardinia but having affinities with those equally enigmatic dwellings the trulli of Puglia and the Pictish brochs of Scotland. There are some 7,000 nuraghi in Sardinia and this area has some of the most spectacular.

And of course, Sardinia had a role in the making of modern Italy: it fell to Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia and Piedmont, to ascend the throne of the new kingdom of Italy in 1861.

The best places to visit in the north of the island are covered in a separate section.

TRANSPORT, INCLUDING MAINLAND CONNECTIONS

Regular flights connect Elmas airport, Cagliari, with Rome (shuttle), and with Turin, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Pisa and Palermo, plus Paris, Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich. Meridiana, Italy’s largest private airline, connects London Gatwick with Cagliari.

Ferries connect Cagliari with Genoa (20 hours), Civitavecchia (13 hours) and Naples (15 hours), also with Palermo (13 hours) and Trapani (10 hours). The short sea route from the mainland is Civitavecchia-Olbia (7 hours). Arbatax has a ferry to Civitavecchia (9 hours).

Regular bus services link the main towns of southern Sardinia, following such routes as Cagliari-Oristano Bosa, Cagliari-Villasimius-Muravera, Cagliari-Oristano-Nuoro, Cagliari Sant’ Antioco. For details of these, and general tourist information, see www.ciaosardinia.com.

From Cagliari railways go west to Iglesias, Carbonia and Sant’ Antioco; north to Oristano and the northern ferry ports. The exciting Green Train (see Trenino Verde, below) links Cagliari with Mandas and Arbatax.