My Sardinia

1. What led you to go to Sardinia ?

I would like to use what a famous songwriter, poet, and musician Fabrizio de Andre has described about the place: “Sardinia is surely as our Lord created Paradise. Built from what he was dreaming about during the time of creation: 24,000 cubic km of unique land, of friendly people and of the most beautiful beaches of the world.”

2. Were you able to sample the food? How was it? Can you relate more experience about your dining there?

Sardinians people across the years say, “everything who comes from the sea is coming to steal from us”. In Sardinia, you can normally eat in the greatest fish-restaurants. But this is not part (except Alghero and Sorrpunding) of the cooking tradition. Real Sardinian food comes from the land and not from the sea.

Because of frequent invasions of the island in history, Sardinians had moved en mass to the center of the island where they developed a very primitive but intensely exquisite food culture.

A good place to eat in Sardinia is where agriturismo flourishes. This the type of tourism where organic farms and restaurant owned and operated by families play host to visitors from other lands. They create such tasty food that each visit would be an intense culinary experience. Roasted pig on a spit with mirth leaves included in the embers is one example of how Sardinian food can be simple but terribly sublime.

3. For you, how different is Sardinia from Mainland Italy ?

Once will notice stark and subtle differences of the Sardinians from the rest of the Italian people. Sardinia is, after all, the land of the stunning smiles. The Sardinian people are generally a bit smaller than the mainland Italians. There is barely anyone with blond hair as most have black. The natives may know Italian but they have an altogether different language that is a mixture of Arab, Latin and Catalan Spanish.

The traditions and ideals of the local Sardinian have been remotely agreeable to mainland Italy that many of them consider themselves as a separate country. Even the words Sardigna no est Natzione reflect their sense of independence from Italy. It means “Sardinia is not the nation”. This is the slogan of Sardinia`s Federalist group who would like Sardinia to be separate from the Italian republic. The nation is the way the Sardinians call the rest of Italy better known also as il continente — “the continent” .

4. Any curious or funny thing that you notice (or have happened to you) during your stay?

There are a lot of things that happened to me that’s quite memorable. I can go on and on about them, but what I notice about my trips in Sardinia, is that there are a lot of moments you can take home. You can have that romantic boat ride also near to coast and discover dolphins following. You can sip red wine surrounded by millions of stars on a clear summer night. You can drive 10 km from the coast to an area where rural life has remained unchanged since 100 years ago. Sardinia is like a time machine brimming with many possibilities. It never fails to have that special moment occur when you visit Sardinia.

5. What struck you about Sardinia? Please mention the good and the bad.

Sardinia can be an expensive place (if you don’t know where to look). It can be extremely hot in the middle of the summer. Houses are normally not well isolated against the cold during the short winter. Internet connection is not even present in most of the areas. Forget about getting any technical help. The streets are dangerous and filled with people who drive like crazy. There’s too much police that it sometimes can make you paranoid. The middle class tourist places suddenly is also not so clean like before. But I hope that changes.

6. If you want to recommend a friend to visit Sardinia , what feature/s would you tell him/her to make him/her go?

Sardinia is a great place to remember what we really are as human beings. Go there and take a dip into her blue crystal water. Commune with Nature and you´ll surely feel your heart beat with a intense you’ve never felt before. This is one of the best places I’ve ever felt this close to Nature. I’m there to just to touch and inhale its beauty.