MOTORING TRAVEL STORY - EXPLORING SARDINIA

Jonathan Crouch explores the twisting roads of Sardinia

Think Sardinia and you think idyllic beaches, crystal blue waters and, perhaps, resorts for the super-rich. But might this Mediterranean island make for a rather different kind of Italian motoring holiday?

Perhaps. As a place of white sands and turquoise sea, it's well deserving of its popular branding as 'the Maldives of Europe'. Less well known is that this, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, is the oldest landmass in Europe, with archaeological sites that date from between 1900 and 730 BC.

For the visitor, this is Italy - but a different kind of Italy. Much of it isn't very much like the Italian mainland at all, which perhaps is to be expected given that Sardinia is nearer to Tunis in North Africa than to Rome. Sicilians though, will recognise the twisting roads and volcanic landscape - and also the size of the island; Sardinia is almost the same size as Sicily in terms of area, but it has only 1.5 million inhabitants, compared to Sicily's 5 million.

Which becomes evident as you point your hire car into the twisting roads that criss-cross the interior. Nearly all Sardinian's live in the island's four main urban areas - Cagliari the capi...