Sardinia is the second largest island after Sicily in Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. The geographical origin of the island was not due to earthquake like the mainland of Italy; instead, it is because of the volcano eruptions. The coastline of the island is rocky and long.
Sardinia has a typical Mediterranean climate with warm winters and hot summers. There is approximately 300 days’ sunshine and the rainfalls are mainly seen during autumn and winter.
The earliest human presence can date back to the Palaeolithic period and the settlement of human beings started in the Neolithic age, around 6000 BC. In the period of 1600 BC onwards, people were divided into a lot of small tribes but the unification of the language and customers began to appear. Around 1000 BC the Phoenicians started to visit the island more and more frequently due to the need of trade and Sardinia was on the trade route.
In 509 BC, Phoenician’s invasion became more arrogant and ambitious. The Sardinians tried hard to defend themselves and to win back the costal cities occupied by the Phoenician. However, in order to hold their occupation, the Phoenician even turned to their fellow Phoenecians in Carthage for help. During the next 270 years, the local culture was largely influenced by the Carthaginian or Punic. Then, in 238 BC, as the Carthaginians lose the first Punic War, so Sardinia was taken over by Rome, serving as a Roman province. Under the rule of Rome for 694 years, the Sardinians never stopped to resist, especially in the mountainous regions.
When the Rome Empire declined, the Vandals came, but later it was defeated by the troops of Justinian and Sardinia was returned the Rome Empire. Later, Sardinia experienced four main kingdom time, namely, The Kingdom of Cagliari, The kingdom of Torres, The Kingdom of Gallura and The Kingdom of Arborea.
The “Kingdom of Sardinia” started from 1479 and it was under the rule of the Spanish Empire for 400 years. The year of 1880 saw a tragic famine which claimed 80,000 people out of a total population of 250,000. 1n 1708, the Austrians controlled Sardinia as the consequence of the Spanish War of Succession.
Finally, in 1848, the Italian Wars of Independence broke out to unite Italy and 23 years later, Sardinia joined the newly founded Kingdom of Italy. After two World Wars, in 1948, Sardinia was granted the special statute of autonomy. Sardinia now has become an EU region.
The economy of the region grows fast as tourism industry boots and also benefits from its best position of southern regions. However, the only problem is the island is too much isolated from the mainland of Italy.
Unlike mainland Italy, drivers here are more sedate and careful. Even so, the fun and freedom brought by hiring a car will not be influenced. The internal and local car rental companies can handle with different levels of budget.