Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus). It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands. To the west of Sardinia is the Balearic Sea, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea; to Sardinia’s east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is also an element of the Mediterranean Sea. The coasts of Sardinia (1,849 km long) are generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches of coastline, many outstanding headlands, a few wide, deep bays, rias, many inlets and with various smaller islands off the coast.
Today Sardinia is phasing in as an EU region, with a diversified economy focused on tourism and the tertiary sector. The economic efforts of the last twenty years have reduced the handicap of insularity, especially in the fields of low-cost air travel and advanced information technology. For example, the CRS4 (Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia) developed the first Italian website in 1991 and webmail in 1995. CRS4 allowed several telecommunication companies and internet service providers based on the island to flourish, such as Videonline in 1994, Tiscali in 1998 and Andala Umts in 1999.
Rock lobster, scampi, bottarga, squid, tuna, sardines and other seafood figure prominently in Sardinian cuisine. Suckling pig and wild boar are roasted on the spit or boiled in stews of beans and vegetables, thickened with bread. Herbs such as mint and myrtle are used. Much Sardinian bread is made dry, which keeps longer than high-moisture breads. Those are baked as well, including civraxiu, coccoi pinatus, a highly decorative bread and pistoccu made with flour and water only, originally meant for herders, but often served at home with tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic and a strong cheese.
The island has some environmental laws, after an enormous plan of reforestation it has become the Italian region with the largest forest extension, with 1,213,250 hectares of woods. The Regional Landscape Plan prohibits new building activities on the coast (except in urban centers), next to forests, lakes or other environmental or cultural sites and the Coastal conservation agency ensures the protection of natural areas on the Sardinian coast. Renewable energies have increased noticeably in recent years, mainly wind power, favoured by the windy climate, but also solar power and biofuel, based on Jatropha oil and Colza oil. 467.10 megawatts of wind power capacity were installed on the island at 2008. Over 600,000 hectares of Sardinian territory are environmentally preserved (about 25% of the island’s territory).
