If you are in the mood for a European tour, why not visit the island of Sardinia, a region of southern Italy? Depending on your own interests, this beautiful area can be an ideal vacation spot. You can get classic Italian food, and wash it down with fine local wine. Some parts of Sardinia remain undiscovered by tourists, while other sites are favorites of Italian and international jet setters and are priced accordingly. This article presents central Sardinia. Companion articles present northern Sardinia and southern Sardinia. Before we give you our itinerary you must realize that central Sardinia is hardly flatland. If you want to go from point A to point B you may have to pass by point C. The actual distance traveled may greatly exceed your initial estimate. Enjoy the trip, and drive carefully (or even better let the pros drive you.) We'll start our tour of central Sardinia at the interior city of Su Nuraxi. Then we head to the city of Giari di Gesturi to its north. We next go southwest to the main road and then north past Oristano near the coast. Then we proceed north and west to the coastal city of Tharros (can you believe an Italian city whose name does not end in a vowel?). From Tharros we go to nearby San Salvatore, and then travel northeast to Nuoro and finally south to Fonni. Su Nuraxi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies near the village of Barumini. It is the finest and most complete example of a nearly four thousand year old stone defensive structure called nuraghe that are found only in Sardinia. Nuraghe are typically shaped like a beehive, built with huge square blocks of stone, but with no foundations or cement. Yet they stand and have stood for millennia. Their name comes from the Sardinian word nurra with two meanings: mound and cavity. They are mounds containing a cavity transformed into one or more rooms and perhaps a courtyard. Each of these structures may be over sixty feet (twenty meters) high. Some complexes include enough towers to englobe and protect a small village. Sardinia is home to more than 8,000 nuraghe, all that remains of the original 30,000 plus. Few nuraghe have been studied scientifically and we are far from understanding their full meaning. But for an unforgettable experience go to Su Nuraxi and explore the nuraghe and the ruins of the surrounding Bronze-Age village. Giari di Gesturi is a 28 square mile (45 square kilometer) basalt plateau. It's home to dwarf wild horses and wild sheep with beautiful curved horns that have turned them into an endangered species. See these magnificent animals while there is still time. Tharros was first inhabited by the Proto-Sardinians, and subsequently by the Phoenicians before the Romans got there. Its setting Capo San Marco (Cape St. Mark) is beautiful, lying between the sea to the west and the Gulf of Oristano to the east. Tharros was first excavated during the Nineteenth Century. A lot of its artifacts were exported to the British Museum of London and the Borely Museum in Marseille. You can see some artifacts in the Archaeological Museum in Sardinia's capital Cagliari and others in the mainland town of Cabras about six miles (ten kilometers) east. The site itself contains some ancient Roman columns, baths, and mosaics. You're not far from the little town of San Salvatore, the location for many of those spaghetti westerns from times gone by. The first Saturday of September it hosts the Festa di San Salvatore (Festival of San Salvatore) in which hundreds of barefoot runners, each carrying an image of the Saviour, run five miles (eight kilometers) to commemorate saving the Cabras Church of Santa Maria Assunta's statue of San Salvatore from Saracen raids. This church was built on an ancient Nuragic underground temple. Nuoro, population about thirty-five thousand, overlooks the mountains. For many serious tourists the real Sardinia is found here, and not in the coastal resorts. Natives of this remote area feel a special pride that neither the Romans, nor Carthage, nor any other foreigner has ever conquered them. Traditions are very much part of the local daily life. You can see the traditional clothing during the numerous festivals and to some extent day to day in the villages. Rural Sardinia's traditional lifestyle seems to agree with people. Relatively many of its residents are centenarians or even supercentarians (those who live to age 110). Antionio Todde from the village of Tiana about twenty miles (thirty kilometers) southwest of Nuoro made it to three weeks short of age 113. He lived on pasta and soup with some pork or lamb each day and a glass and a half of red wine. The first time he saw television was in 1954 at age 65. Every night he would cycle thirty miles (forty-five kilometers) to see fuzzy images of dancing girls on the tiny screen. Antonio was wounded in World War I and died as the world's oldest proven combat veteran. Nuoro is proud of its captivating landscapes, walking and riding paths along old shepherd's trails, and extravagantly romantic places with rare species of birds. If you're interested in archaeological finds or in fascinating folklore and legends, you won't be disappointed with Nuoro. Yet the city is far from an intellectual wasteland. In fact it has been called "the Sardinian Athens" because of its large number of poets, writers, and intellectuals including Grazia Deledda, the second woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature (1926), born and raised in Nuoro. Fonni, population about four thousand, is the highest town in Sardinia. It is a winter sports center with ski lifts but also has many spring fountains as befits its name. Be sure to see the Eighteenth Century Baroque Sanctuary of the Vergine dei Martiri with unusual paintings by local artists. Don't miss the Eleventh Century Church of San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist) the village's patron saint. The best day to visit is on June 24th, when in his honor the villagers are decked out in full splendor. The men wear linen trousers and black gaiters. The women are dressed in a white chemise, a very small corselet, and a red jacket with blue and black velvet facings. Their accordion-pleated skirt is brown and red with a blue band between the two. Some women wear two identical skirts, one above the other. The married women wear black kerchiefs and the unmarried ones wear white. This is the most traditional part of Sardinia; in effect one of the most traditional parts of Italy and all Western Europe. What about food? It is said that there are more than 500 types of bread in Sardinia, one for each village. The most famous is the pani carasau that resembles thin pita. It is also called carta di musica, because it supposedly rustles like a music manuscript. This bread is baked twice and consequently is quite dry. No problem, some including the shepherds moisten it with water before filling it with goodies such as the local pecorino cheese. The white kokkoi bread is considered a real treat and is proudly served at life cycle events. Let's suggest a sample menu, one of many. Start with Spaghetti ai Ricci (Spaghetti with Sea Urchins). Then try Quaglie Arrosto (Roasted Quail). When it comes to dessert indulge yourself with Aranzada (Candied Orange Peel and Toasted Almonds). Be sure to increase your dining pleasure by including local wines with your meal. We'll conclude with a quick look at Sardinian wine. Sardinia ranks number 8 among the 20 Italian regions in acreage devoted to wine grapes and number 12 in total annual wine production. About 57% of its wine production is red or rose (not very much rose) leaving 43% for white wine. DOC is short for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which can be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin, presumably a high-quality wine. The G in DOCG stands for Garantita, but there is in fact no guarantee that such wines are truly superior. The region produces 19 DOC wines and one DOCG wine, Vermentino di Gallura. About 15% of Sardinian wine carries the DOC or DOCG designation. Arborea DOC is produced in a relatively large section of west central Sardinia. The red or rose wine is produced from the well-known Italian red Sangiovese grape. The white wine is produced from the well-known but more pedestrian Italian white Trebbiano grape and may be still or naturally fizzy. The Vernaccia di Oristano DOC wine is produced in a small area near the city of Oristano from a local white grape of that name. This wine may be dry or sweet and depending on its labeling must be aged for a minimum of 29 to 48 months. Legend says that the vines come from the tears of Santa Giusta, patroness of Oristano and the wine helps fight malaria. The sweet wine resembles Sherry, quite good Sherry in the case of the best offerings.
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