Sardinia, blessed with an incredible sunny climate, is Italy's most undiscovered region. Here the sun shines an average of 320 days a year. Apart from January and the rainy season in March and April, you can swim year round. Among the many attractions of this ancient and mysterious island, Cagliari, the capital, is not to be missed. Its Gothic, Roman and Phoenician treasures are wonderfully blended within this modern and vibrant crossroads. Africa, Spain, Italy and France have exerted enormous influence on Sardinia. Sardo is not a dialect of Italian. It is a distinct language that derives from early Latin with a strong resemblance to Catalan.

Although Sardinia is politically part of Italy, like its language, its history and culture developed on its own. Sardinia existed six hundred million years ago, when the Alps and mainland Italy were not yet formed. Peopled since the dawn of mankind, Sardinia is covered with remains of lost civilizations, most a mystery to this day. Astonishingly, six distinct cultures flourished and vanished well before the rise of Greece, Carthage or Rome. Underground temples, ziggurats, mysterious objects and dwellings, whose proportions are attributed to a mythological race of giants, honeycomb the land. Today, its people, no larger than us, are simple, pure and hardy; you will greatly enjoy meeting them as they will you. Its distinctive cuisine and wines are brutally honest and delicious and you will relish these as well. You will also discover that pink is the dominant color of Sardinia. Pink sands and flamingoes line the coast just as wild peonies rise at whim throughout the rugged interior.

Sardinia is full of surprises and every one of them is spectacular.