19-06-2025
The Sparkle of Separateness: Circling Sardinia by Car
I saw the two women chatting as soon as I entered the town. One was standing on the street in the shade of a low building; the other, an older lady dressed in black, was responding from her third-floor balcony. Together they formed a charming first impression of Cuglieri, a small commune I'd passed through while driving along the western coast of the Italian island of Sardinia.
Nothing else was stirring on that sleepy Sunday afternoon in late September — until I bumped into three friends sitting on a bench: Antonio, Giovanni Maria and Renzo, their combined ages well over 200. I introduced myself and, when word got out that I'm half Sicilian, Antonio, the tallest gentleman, smiled and shouted: 'Ah, anche tu isolana sei!' — So you're an islander, too!
His exclamation encapsulated the separateness of life on Sardinia, which lies in the Mediterranean some 120 miles west of mainland Italy. To refer to the rest of country, locals here say 'il continente' — the continent.
In other words: Those 120 miles might as well be an entire ocean.
My partner and I had formulated a simple plan: to fly to the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, on the southern coast, rent a car and drive the perimeter of the island counterclockwise, following as many seaside roads as possible. We also wanted to swim, hike and visit some of the smaller islands off the coast. Sardinia has about 1,150 miles of shoreline, though not all of it is accessible.
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