Sardinia

Sardinia (, Sardinian: Sardigna) is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. It was formerly the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The official name is, in Italian, Regione Autonoma della Sardegna.The capital and largest city is Cagliari.

Geography
The island of Sardinia has an area of  and, after Sicily, is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is  long from North to South, and  wide from West to East. It lies between 38° 51' and 41° 15' latitude north and 8° 8' and 9° 50' longitude east.

The island is on the western Mediterranean Sea, between the island of Corsica to the north and Tunisia to the south. The Tyrrhenian Sea part of the Mediterranean is directly east of Sardinia, between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula.

The Strait of Bonifacio (, , Gallurese: Bocchi di Bunifaciu, ) is the strait between Corsica and Sardinia, named after the Corsican town Bonifacio. It is   wide  and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea from the western Mediterranean Sea.

Rivers
Sardinia has few major rivers, the largest being the Tirso,  long, which flows into the western Mediterranean Sea, the Coghinas () and the Flumendosa ().

Mountains and valleys
The highest peak is Punta La Marmora (), part of the Gennargentu group of mountains in the centre of the island. Other mountain chains are Monte Limbara () in the northeast, the Chain of Marghine and Goceano () running crosswise for  towards the north, the Monte Albo (), the Sette Fratelli massif in the southeast, and the Sulcis Mountains and the Monte Linas ().

The mountain chains of the island are separated by wide valleys; the main ones are Campidano in the southwest between Oristano and Cagliari, and the Nurra in the northwest.

Islands
There are many small islands around the main island of Sardinia. Some of them are:
 Maddalena Archipelago, to the northeast
 Asinara, to the northwest
 San Pietro Island, to the southwest
 Sant'Antioco, to the southwest

Administrative divisions
Sardinia is divided in eight provinces:
Administrative map with local names.|250px|thumb

 Province Capital Area (km²) Population(2012) Density(inh./km²) Communes Cagliari  Cagliari  4,570  551,077    71 Carbonia-Iglesias  Carbonia and Iglesias  1,495  127,958    23 Medio Campidano  Sanluri and Villacidro  1,516  100,624    28 Nuoro  Nuoro  3,934  158,314    52 Ogliastra  Lanusei and Tortoli  1,854  57,321    23 Olbia-Tempio  Olbia and Tempio Pausania  3,399  152,455    26 Oristano  Oristano  3,040  163,079    88 Sassari  Sassari  4,282  329,551    66

References

Other websites

 Official Sardinia Tourism website in English
 Official regional website in Italian 
 Sardegna DigitalLibrary - La memoria digitale della Sardegna  

Category:Autonomous areas
Category:Islands of Italy