Backpacking in Italy: Top 5 Sights in Sardinia

As well as backpacking in mainland Italy, it’s a great idea to escape the boot shape and hit up one of Italy’s many islands. One of the most famous of these islands is Sardinia, second only behind Sicily in terms of size and often overlooked by tourists. However, getting here is very easy these days – not just by flight but the ferry service by OK ferry is handy and easy to use. The island has its own autonomy, flag, language and culture. Once you have your trip booked and you arrive on Sardinia, here are 5 excellent sights to check out.

Sardinia Flag

1.Football Stadium in Cagliari – Stadio Comunale Sant’Elia
The capital city of Sardinia is Cagliari. It is worth a few days of backpacking for sure, but a little known fact is that the football stadium here in Cagliari hosted all three of England’s World Cup group games at Italia 90. Stadio Comunale Sant’Elia is a football stadium in Cagliari, Italy.

Football Stadium in Cagliari – Stadio Comunale Sant’Elia

It is best known for having been the home of Cagliari Calcio, local football team. Despite its low capacity, this stadium hosted three matches during the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The stadium currently has a low capacity of 16,000 spectators yet was one of the venues of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Although it was denied by local and FIFA organisers, it was widely rumoured that the stadium had been chosen for all of England’s group matches as a way to control their reputation at the time for hooliganism. England drew with the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands and they beat Egypt here.

2.The prehistoric megalithic temple of Monte d’Accoddi
The prehistoric megalithic temple of Monte d’Accoddi is worth checking out for the architecture buffs.

The prehistoric megalithic temple of Monte d’Accoddi

It is a Neolithic archaeological site in the north part of the island near to Porto Torres. The ruins are not huge, but date back to 4,000 BC so definitely worth exploring! The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the ancient Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around c. 4,000-3,650 BC.

3.Nuraghe Losa
The Nuraghe Losa is an interesting sight near to the village of Abbasanta. Nuraghe Losa is a complex prehistoric building in the shape of a tholos tomb. Its central structure has a triangular shape and its wall have been preserved.

Nuraghe Losa

On the west side, a turreted wall is linked to it as you can see in the image above. The whole built complex is surrounded by a wider wall, which encloses the settlement of the original village of huts and other additional buildings constructed in the late-Punic, imperial Roman, late Roman and high Middle Ages periods.

4.Tuvixeddu necropolis, Cagliari
Also in the city of Cagliari, you should head to the Tuvixeddu Necroplois. The necropolis of Tuvixeddu is a punic necropolis, one of the largest in the Mediterranean, located in a hill inside Cagliari city, called Tuvixeddu. Sardinia has its own language however and this translates locally as hill of the little holes. The necropolis opened to the public quite recently – only in May 2014, during the XVIII edition of “Monumenti Aperti“. The archaeological area is large, it originally consisted of an area of about 80 hectares.

Tuvixeddu necropolis

5.The medieval Basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres
You should always try to visit churches when in Italy as Catholic religion dominates culture here, as you may have read on my Vatican City stories. This church, the Basilica di San Gavino (Basilica of Saint Gabinus) is a proto-Romanesque church in Porto Torres. A former cathedral, it is now a place for the veneration of local martyrs and a parish church, the interior is basic yet holy.

The medieval Basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres