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Sardinia is the second largest island (23,813 sq. km.) in the Mediterranean (Sicily is larger), and as a result of its isolation, less dependent on insularity than on the distance separating it from mainland Italy, it has conserved its own economy and traditions far more than have other regions. Lying in the Tyrrhenian Sea to the east, the Sardinian to the west and separated from Corsica to the north by the Strait of Bonifacio, and including the smaller islands round it (SantÀntioco, San Pietro, Asinara, La Maddalena, Caprera, etc.), it is the most extensive region after Sicily and Piedmont.

History. The morphology of the island is the result of complex tectonic processes and volcanic activity in the Cenozoic era on a mass of Palaeozoic rock upthrust from the sea, later severely affected by late Palaeozoic orogenesis. The Sardinian mountains are a chaotic series of deeply eroded ranges, groups, plateaux and uplands, scattered in apparent disarray.

A geological characteristic is the Campidano tectonic plain filled with Eocene and Pleistocene deposits, which lies northwest-southeast across the south of the island, linking the gulfs of Oristano and Cagliari and dividing mineral-rich mountainous Sulcis and Iglesiente districts to the southwest, from the much more extensive mountain regions in the north and east which cover most of the island, reaching 1,834 m. at Punta La Marmora, in the Gennargentu group. Most of the coast is lined with cliffs and is picturesque.

Sardinian water courses are characteristically fast flowing, with a relatively high water volume in winter, reduced to a trickle in summer. The principal rivers are the Flumendosa and Cedrino to the east, the Mannu-Coghinas, emptying into the Gulf of Asinara, and the Tirso, which flows into the Gulf of Oristano. The most important lakes are the coastal basins on the shores of the gulfs of Oristano and Cagliari and the artificial lakes Omodeo and Coghinas.

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