sardinia |
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images: awl images; stockfood |
Clockwise from left: Old Town in Bosa, in the province of Oristano; a local woman in Alghero; a bottle of Sardinian wine; Porto Giunco beach, near Capo Carbonara and Villasimiius |
B. C. E., and their dominion over Sardinia lasted nearly 700 years. Evidence of their civilization— gold coins, stone carvings and illustrative mosaics— is still being uncovered today.
Sardinia’ s population stands at just under 1.7 million and is spread among four provinces: Nuoro, Oristano, Sassari and South Sardinia. Despite centuries of invaders and settlers, the island has lost none of its magnetic attraction for travelers, having landed the second spot in Condé Nast Traveler’ s 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards for‘ the best islands in Europe.’
INTO THE BLUE ZONE
Dan Buettner, an explorer and National Geographic Fellow, coined the term‘ Blue Zones’( areas where people live exceptionally long and healthy lives) during a 2004 expedition. His team of scientists traveled the globe in search of communities with extraordinary longevity and mapped their findings using concentric circles
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darkened with blue ink, hence the term. Sardinia is one of only five Blue Zones around the world, the others being Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece and Loma Linda in California.
The island’ s geography, customs and environment have all contributed to the prolonged existence of its people. D. H. Lawrence’ s 1921 book Sea and Sardinia describes the citizenry’ s resilience perfectly:‘ They say neither Romans nor Phoenicians, Greeks nor Arabs ever subdued Sardinia.’
The Phoenicians, who arrived around 1000 B. C. E., challenged the Sardinians for territory and drove residents inland. With every fresh wave of invaders, natives kept moving upward into the mountains to seek safety.
Today, these high-altitude areas, particularly Villagrande Strisaili, are recognized as having the world’ s highest concentration of male centenarians,
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fall 2025 • 37 |