Sardinia hasn’t always been the tranquil, picture-perfect paradise of today. The island was once ruled by bandits; its rugged landscape the perfect place for criminals to hide. Things weren’t much better on the coastline: slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean, the island was an easy target for pirates and was vulnerable to plague. Life in Sardinia was once truly miserable.
Head west from Cagliari and it isn’t long before you’re in a Sardinia that many visitors don’t get to see
Thankfully, the pirates and plague are no longer a problem in this part of the world. But there is another ‘p’ you might have to watch out for in Sardinia: the politician. In the run-up to the doomed general election in July, Boris Johnson opted to sunbathe in Sardinia rather than canvass in Crawley. It’s hard to blame him.
Boris isn’t the only politician to fall for Sardinia’s charms. So enamoured were the Blairs by their trip to Sardinia in 2004 that Cherie said: ‘I have never had an evening like the one I had in Sardinia’.
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