Buying real estate in Sardinia

It may technically be part of Italy, but anyone buying property in Sardinia is moving to a region apart. This second largest island in the Mediterranean is only slightly smaller than Sicily to the south, yet it has only a third of the population — 1.6m people spread over its 24,000 square kilometres — giving it one of the lowest population densities in Italy.

And cast adrift in the Mediterranean, it’s almost equidistant from the Tuscany coast and the Tunisian coast of North Africa, it doesn’t feel entirely European either. Novelist DH Lawrence, in his peregrinations around the Mediterranean in the 1920s, described it as ‘lost between Europe and Africa and belonging to nowhere’.

So is it too remote for those seeking to buy property in Italy? Well no. Because this delightful chunk of Mediterranean real estate has superb travel links. We mentioned Alghero, which has an international airport and Ryanair flights out of Stansted. Flights may often be had for farcically small cost, hardly a barrier to visiting your holiday flat in Sardinia, or to family flying out to visit you once you’ve bought a villa or farm in Sardinia. There are also airports in the south at Cagliari and at Olbia on the chic Costa Smeralda on the east coast.

Sardinia is also home to some splendid hotels, many of them built fairly recently. If you're popping over to view some properties then have a look at the range of Sardinia hotels on ahotelinitaly.com - you're bound to find some in your area of interest.

Sardinia is also superbly served for ferry connections, to Genoa, Livorno, Naples, Sicily, Nice, Marseilles and Toulon. Buy property in Sardinia and you have the option of driving to the south of France perhaps and then taking the ferry across the Mediterranean. The connections make it a very appealing prospect for those looking to buy Sardinia property to live in or rent out for holiday lets.

Italy property in Sardinia

Like so many of the Mediterranean islands, Sardinia is an agglomeration of every civilisation that invaded, colonised and moved on over the millennia. The oldest recorded dwellers were the Neolithic Nuraghi, who built the 7000 conical stone towers (nuraghi) that litter the island. These mysterious structures have often been raided for stone over the centuries but many good examples remain, the largest being at Su Nuraxhi, north of the capital Cagliari.

But the Nuraghi were displaced, first by marauding Myceneans, Cypriots, Phoenicians and then by the city of Carthage, which lies just across the water on the Tunisian coast. Sardinia was plundered for its timber and its minerals. Rome came next, then the Vandals, the Byzantines and the Arabs. The constant depredations led to a Sardinian curiosity which will be noted by anyone looking at real estate on Sardinia today. The dispirited Sards took to the hills, deserting the coast and leading to a concentration of villages and settlements in the highlands. This, in part, explains the lack of a larger fishing industry on the island.

Sardinia property and real estate

And so, for generations, the many miles of white sandy beaches on Sardinia, overlooked by precipitous cliffs, with transparent waters washing into breathtakingly pretty coves … were entirely ignored.

The change happened fairly recently, with the development of the Costa Smeralda on the east, and of Alghero on the west. Otherwise, beach front houses are rather cheaper than in Sicily and certainly than in the hyper-expensive Amalfi Coast. Investing in real estate on the Sardinian Coast can only pay dividends. This is a hugely underexploited island. It’s relatively popular with Italians, but still only 1.5m came last year, as opposed to 2.4m hitting Sicily. As for foreigners … 1.5m of us went to Sicily last year but only 41,000 to Sardinia.

And the buying-up of property has been pretty much concentrated on the coast. Head into the eastern mountains of Barbagia, where the Sards hid from the Saracens all those centuries ago, and you will find farms and deserted houses going for a song — this sparsely populated island can barely afford to lose people, but the population has actually dwindled somewhat over the past decade. If you really want to buy property on Sardinia’s coast (and the Sardinian coast is one of Europe’s most beautiful) then you only need to move a little way from the Costa Smeralda for prices to become sane again.

Sardinia real estate — the towns

Cagliari, on the south coast, is the biggest town and has been the capital since Roman times. With a working port, some industry, and the narrow lanes of the old town, this is a bustling, thriving and charming little city. The city walls have two Pisan towers, a remnant of the days when Pisa and Genoa tussled for control of the island. Also check out the town of Oristano, surrounded by water in the form of lagoons and irrigation canals. There are Roman and Punic remains at Tharros nearby and, in the midst of one of the last truly untouched reaches of Sardinian coast, sits the mediaeval town of Bosa, complete with castle and cathedral and sitting on the banks of the Temo River.

Sardinia — hotels in and around the towns

If you're likely to need a hotel for your trip to Sardinia, the following links may help - Sardinia hotels by province:

Cagliari hotels / Nuoro hotels / Sassari hotels

Property in Sardinia — food and drink

Anyone buying real estate in Sardinia will learn to love a cuisine that is hearty, rustic, surprisingly meaty for Italy, and with influences from all around the Mediterranean. Lamb and kid, wild boar cooked in cauldrons over open fires, spit-roasted pork with myrtle, suckling pig cooked over myrtle-scented flames. The influence of the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, the Spanish and Byzantium are seen in the couscous, nougat, baked artichokes and aubergines that grace the menu. Sardinian bread is famously good and the percorino sardo is renowned — a salty and pungent cheese.

And Sardinian wine owes a great deal to one of those invaders, Aragon, whose people imported Spanish grapes, today yielding Vermentino whites from Sassari, Carignano in Sulcis, and Giro in Cagliari. Those looking at real estate in Sardinia may be most familiar with Vernaccia, a sherry-type wine, with the dry version drunk as an aperitif and the sweet as a dessert wine.