We’ll meet at our hotel and walk to Butega for a tasting tour of Sardinia. Butega specializes in the island’s raw ingredients and fine products, many of which we’ll later learn about at the source. Expect bracing white wines and rich reds, savory cured meats studded with flavorful fat and herbs, pungent sheep cheeses and the most famous of Sardinian breads, paper-thin pane carasau. 

Our appetites whetted, we’ll walk over to Luigi Pomata for dinner. Sardinia is a fish lover’s paradise, but since we spend the bulk of our trip in the mountains and away from the sea, we won’t eat much fish. It’s an important part of the Sardinian story, though, so tonight we feast on the sea’s gifts. Luigi Pomata is a fish-focused restaurant with a tuna obsession. We’ll have it several ways during our four-course meal.

After breakfast, we’ll drive to the picturesque town of Isili to meet Luigi Pitzalis and his sons, the last working coppersmiths in Sardinia. Coppersmithing has a long history in Sardinia and we’ll learn about it while we watch the art in action. Weaving is another important Sardinian craft with culinary ties, and we’ll visit a textile museum, also in Isili. Midday, we’ll head to Barumini to tour one of the most important nuraghe in Sardinia. Nuraghe are Bronze Age ruins, and a visit to Sardinia is incomplete without touring one.

After our day of craft and history, it’s time to eat and cook. We’ll go to nearby Restaurant Nuraxi, a farm-to-table experience run by Tonia Fulgheri and her daughters. We’ll tour the garden and then head to the kitchen to make malloreddus, a quintessential Sardinian pasta dish. Once our late lunch is over, we’ll head to the village of Gergei, where we’ll check into Domu Antiga. A series of carefully renovated farmhouses, Domu Antiga is a multi-generational project of the Lai family.

We wake up very early to meet another member of the Lai family, Maria Grazia’s son Samuel. A shepherd and cheesemaker, Samuel will take us out at dawn to bring the sheep in for their daily milking. Milked only seasonally and once a day, these sheep produce small quantities of very high-quality milk that Samuel makes into cheese. After our morning chores, we’ll have breakfast and then meet Samuel at his cheesemaking facility back in Gergei. We’ll learn to make ricotta, visit his underground cheese cave and have an extensive tasting of his cheeses paired with his wife’s preserves, as well as fruit and herbs from their garden. Back at Domu Antiga, we will meet Giulia, Samuel’s sister. She’ll guide us in a hands-on cooking class featuring Samuel’s cheeses, traditional dishes and local ingredients. Dinner is of our making and enjoyed outside under the stars.

As fish is to the coast, wheat is to the interior. Specifically, durum wheat, and very specifically, grano Cappelli, a local variety of durum that almost went extinct in the 20th century. We’ll visit Laura Accalai, the founder of Consorzio Sardo Grano Cappelli, a farmer’s cooperative and mill that is at the forefront of reviving the grain today. We’ll meet Laura and tour one of the farms growing grano Cappelli, learn what makes this grain so special and nutritious, and take a hands-on baking class with lead baker and recipe developer Virginia Lanfranconi.

After that, it’s back to Domu Antiga, where Maria Grazia will prepare a seasonal and traditional meal with ingredients from the family’s gardens as well as local farms and producers. 

Today we travel to Barbagia, a remote and very traditional part of Sardinia. In Seulo, we’ll meet Tonio Moi, who raises traditional Sardinian pigs. Tonio’s animals roam freely, eating acorns and chestnuts. After a visit to his farm, we’ll go to the tasting room in town to try his pristine cured meats. We’ll also learn about one of Sardinia’s most fascinating stories: longevity. Sardinia is a Blue Zone, and Seulo, in particular, boasts a high population of centenarians. Back in Gergei, we’ll have an aperitif, a light dinner and an early night.

Wild herbs, flowers and plants are eaten daily in Sardinia. Indeed, what grows on the land influences the cuisine as much as the many cultures that inhabit it and have passed through it. Marco Zedda, a local park ranger turned beekeeper, will take us into the fields to help us learn more. We’ll walk through meadows full of flowers and plants and enjoy a picnic in the fields. Back at his lab, we’ll see the honey-making process and taste a range of his seasonal honeys. After a break to rest or pack, we’ll go to Olianas winery for our farewell feast featuring another Sardinian classic: roast suckling pig, served with spectacular views of the countryside we’ve explored throughout the week. We’ll drink their wines, enjoy the aromas and flavors of Sardinia and toast our week together.

Our trip together ends. You can extend your time at Domu Antiga, head on to the Emerald Coast or travel with us back to Cagliari to head home until your next adventure.