Sardinia Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; or ; ; ; ; ) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus). It is located west of the Italian Peninsula and to the immediate south of the French island of Corsica. Sardinia is politically a region of Italy, whose official name is "Regione Autonoma della Sardegna" / "Regione Autònoma de Sardigna" (Autonomous Region of Sardinia), and enjoys some degree of domestic autonomy granted by a specific Statute. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city, with Cagliari being the region's capital and its largest city as
Sardinia the pre-Roman noun *"s(a)rd-", later romanised as ' (feminine '). It makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone, where the word "Šrdn" testifies to the name's existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to "Timaeus", one of Plato's dialogues, Sardinia (referred to by most ancient Greek authors as "Sardò", Σαρδὼ) and its people as well might have been named after a legendary woman going by Sardò (), born in Sardis ("Σάρδεις"), capital of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia. There has also been speculation that identifies the ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden, one of the Sea Peoples. It