One of the biggest festivals in Sardinia is L’ardia di San Costantino.  It commemorates Constantine’s victory over Maxentious at Rome’s Mulvian Bridge in 312, in which Constantine is reported to have seen a flaming cross inscribed with the words “in this sign thou shall conquer”. The highlight of the festival is a race on the grounds of the Santuario di...

Li Candelieri, a medieval style festival, takes place in Sassari on August 14. In Sardinian it is called Sa festa manna, the great festival. In the parade, called faradda, the different guilds carry huge wooden candles, that once used to be made of wax weighing about 40 kilos. Today they use wooden candles, carried on the shoulders by 9 people...

Sa Sartiglia, Oristano’s carnevale event, is one of Italy’s most unusual and historic carnivals. Sa Sartiglia is a 500 year old medieval tournament with guild members on horseback racing along a sanded track to spear a silver star hanging in front of the Duomo. Knights  from all over the island dress in fabulous costumes and even decorate their horses. They...

The Feast Day of Sant’Efisio, Sardinia’s most important festival, has been held in Cagliari on May 1 since 1656. This is not simply a local festival but it’s the Sardinian “May Day”, which sees people from all over the island dressed up with their finest traditional costumes, knights riding horses, and huge decorated floats driven by gigantic oxen, all gathering...

Su Nuraxi is an important Nuragic fortress and surrounding village dating back to the middle bronze age, around 1500 BC (carbon dating puts it at 1478). The fortress has been changed and modified over the years as invaders came from the sea, which intensified the need for defense. Giovanni Lilliu’s excavations proved that Su Nuraxi was being inhabited until the...