In Sardinia

‘Sardinia is something else,’ D. H. Lawrence wrote in 1921. Over a century after Lawrence’s visit, and after three decades of living and traveling in Italy, Jeff Biggers crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea to discover the treasures of the island for himself. Based in the bewitching port of Alghero and guided by Sardinia’s rich and largely untranslated literature, he experiences its famed cuisine, wine, traditional rituals, and thriving cultural movements, and illuminates the island’s rich history. From the Neolithic array of Stonehenge-like dolmens to the thousands of Nuragic towers and burial tombs, the uninterrupted cycle of civilisations and their architectural marvels have turned Sardinia into the Mediterranean’s open museum; and new archaeological findings have placed the island as one of the cradles of Bronze Age civilisation. Looking beyond its fabled beaches, jagged peaks, and wide plateaux, Biggers explores how, to truly understand the rest of Italy, travellers must first understand Sardinia.