Just mention Sardinia and you can already picture yourself in a swimsuit, pleasantly perched on a dream beach, breathing in the Mediterranean air, far from everything and everyone, under the summer sun, completely offline. The author has no intention of chipping away at the holiday imagery associated with the island — and rightly so, because it would be impossible. The invitation is simply to consider another way of experiencing the beauty of this region: a more adventurous one, with a backpack on your shoulders and hiking boots on your feet, setting off in autumn or spring to savour at a slow pace the deep identity of Sardinia. Along the way you encounter villages, archaeological sites and inland landscapes bearing traces of 8,000 years of history, without overlooking the warmth of local hospitality and the quality of food and wine products.

This combination of elements has certainly contributed to Sardinia recently being included for the first time among the 25 best destinations in the world highlighted by Lonely Planet, featuring in the "Best in Travel 2026" publication as the only region in Europe.

We are preparing, then, for an intimate journey along little-trodden paths, peering inside ancient churches, menhirs, domus de janas (no fewer than 18 prehistoric sites recognised on the Unesco list) and nuraghi, stopping in villages where it is easy to stumble upon local festivals with traditional dances and songs, along routes that are often well-suited to cycle tourism and horse riding excursions.

Walking through the heart of Sardinia

Nature, identity and hospitality are the key words of Noi camminiamo in Sardegna, the project promoted by the Assessorato del Turismo della Regione Sardegna and carried forward since 2022 in collaboration with Terre di Mezzo, a publishing house with specialist expertise in the sector, to promote slow, experiential and sustainable tourism, showcasing Sardinian territory beyond the sea and the coastline.

Eight are the itineraries and eight the destinations proposed along the routes trodden by pilgrims over the centuries, into which investments are being made to improve infrastructure and services with the involvement of local communities, also with the aim of breathing new economic life into them.

Sardinia, this wild and at the same time gentle land, where everything is mystery and everything is clear, where life seems motionless yet flows like water beneath the stones of the stream, invisible but alive.

Grazia Deledda in Canne al vento

Walking the Via dei Santuari

Among the main itineraries grouped under Noi camminiamo in Sardegna, we find the Via dei Santuari, alongside others such as the Cammino minerario di Santa Barbara, the Cammino 100 Torri and the Cammino Francescano.

The Via dei Santuari was born from the grassroots, from the association Camminantes, which has mapped out a route along the ancient pilgrimage paths of Sardinian devotees. Its distinctive feature is that it connects the most historically, spiritually and culturally significant novenari from the centre-north of the island all the way to Gallura, with a final excursion to Bonifacio, forging an ideal link between Sardinia and Corsica.

The Via dei Santuari

• 450 km from San Salvatore di Cabras to Bonifacio, in Corsica
• 22 stages
• 90% of the route on footpaths and country tracks; low-to-medium difficulty
• Some points of interest: the ancient Tharros founded by the Phoenicians in the Sinis peninsula, the church of San Salvatore, Santa Maria di Bonacattu (the oldest Marian church in Sardinia), the nuragic sanctuary of Santa Cristina di Paulilatino, Monte Gonara, the novenario of San Francesco di Lula
• Symbol: a blue rectangle featuring constellations, evoking the night and the sacred sleep of the novenari
• Local specialities: bottarga in the Sinis, casizolu cheese in the Monteferru, sweets from the Barbagia (seadas and s'aranzada), Cannonau from Mamoiada and Vermentino in Gallura
• Useful information on the Camminantes association website and in the guide by Paolo Loi, La via dei Santuari in Sardegna, published by Imago

The pilgrimage tradition in Sardinia and the novenari

The pilgrimage tradition in Sardinia has ancient roots: as far back as the late Bronze Age (1,300–1,200 BC), the first sanctuary villages emerged, dedicated to the worship of water, where tribes would gather to pray and celebrate but also to trade goods or forge alliances.

In the Christian era, across the centre and north of the island, the destinations of pilgrimages became the novenari — a kind of rural village where communities would gather and live together for nine full days (the novena) ahead of the feast day dedicated to a saint. Even outlaws and brigands were welcome, on condition that they left their weapons outside, to share in a suspended time of peace. The novenari were equipped with small dwellings known as cumbessias or muristenes, which to this day are opened to those travelling on foot.

The practice of sleeping at sacred sites is an original element of Sardinian religious devotion. Even Aristotle mentions it in his Physics, describing the therapeutic sleep at sites dedicated to ancestors and heroes that was widespread in Sardinia.

In northern Sardinia, Gallura and Luogosanto

The Via dei Santuari crosses several regions and landscapes. It is ideally divided into four segments: the Via delle acque, the Via delle pietre fitte, the Via di San Paolo di Monti, and the Via delle Gallure.

After the "visceral" Barbagia, heading north the route enters Gallura, where light and harmony prevail. It begins at the sanctuary of San Paolo di Monti, an evocative spot nestled in woodland and silence, dedicated to Paul of Thebes, considered the first hermit saint in Christian history, who withdrew into the desert of the Thebaid in ancient Egypt. All the communities of central-northern Sardinia converge here on pilgrimage.

The path winds through granite ridges, cork oak forests, pastures and stretches of vineyards, along trails that cut through thickets of strawberry tree, myrtle and heather. Of particular interest is the restored section along the former Monti-Tempio railway line, also ideal for cycling or horse riding, along which stands the evocative Giants' Tomb of Pascaredda, a megalithic burial site from the Bronze Age.

Scattered among the greenery are the stazzi, the typical rural homesteads of Gallura, as well as dolmens (from the Breton tolmen, stone table) such as those surrounding the village of Luras.

For climbing enthusiasts, we recommend the outdoor climbing area in the Parco delle Tre Cime adjacent to the village of Luogosanto, a true bouldering paradise. Around a hundred ancient boulders of varying difficulty have been cleared and marked out here. Also worth visiting in the surroundings of Luogosanto are the hermitage of San Trano carved into the granite rock, the ruins of Palazzo di Baldu with the small church of Santo Stefano, the remains of Castello di Balaiana on the summit of the hill of San Leonardo (reached after climbing 300 steps!), and the enchanting valley of Crisciuleddu, where you can wrap your arms around a monumental cork oak with a diameter of 4 metres, one of the most imposing specimens of this species.

Walking in Sardinia to regenerate oneself

"The idea of the Way is founded on a deep tradition, a seat of 'active' memories capable of generating subtle stimuli for those who walk with a spiritual intention, in the spirit of regenerating oneself and one's relationships, but also out of a simple passion for hiking," explains Paolo Loi, the creator of the Via dei Santuari.

There are many aspects that make walking in Sardinia so captivating: the quietude and vastness of the countryside, which offer a certain pleasure of getting lost; the incredible layering and cultural variety that lives not only in the landscapes but also in the language, at the table, in dances, songs, traditional costumes and in the religious rituals still present today in communities, where the sacred and the profane intertwine. And then there is the deep connection of the inhabitants with their own land. This is what makes encounters so special. A strong sense of belonging to one's roots shines through the local people, and very often an intense bond with nature. It is what we find in the care with which a dish is cooked and offered, in shepherding, or in the ancient art of bark stripping (for the extraction of cork), handed down from gener