Shopping around

Mercatino Arabo: early-risers can join locals for a mooch around the weekly market each Tuesday morning, on Piazza Pertini place in Sant’Antioco city, one of the bustling morning food markets, plenty of vegetables, tasty local cheese (you can have it also vacuum packed), olive oil, the famous local rugs and handicraft, bric à brac. You can pick up all sorts of Sardinian goodies – seafood, tangy salami, pecorino the size of wagon wheels. Stop by here for the finest pecorino, salami, bottarga, bread, wine and pretty-packed dolci (sweets), honey and torrone. Assemini (near Cagliari, on the road to go to the Airport) is famous for its ceramics, glazed in blue and white or yellow and green, and embellished with naturalistic motifs such as birds and flowers, and Villamassargia is renowned for Sardinian style rugs, bags, tents, in general textile handymade craft. In Sant’Antioco you can find also the last handcrafted wicker baskets, made with wild olive tree twigs.