Sardinia world (22 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants). Sardinia is the first discovered Blue Zone, a demographic and/or geographic area in the world with an oversize concentration of centenarians and supercentenarians. In 2016 there were 50,346 foreign national residents, forming 3% of the total Sardinian population. The most represented nationalities were: Sardinia's most populated cities are Cagliari and Sassari. The Metropolitan City of Cagliari has 431,302 inhabitants, or about ¼ of the population of the entire island. Eurostat has identified in Sardinia two Functional Urban Areas: Cagliari, with 477,000 inhabitants, and Sassari, with 222,000 inhabitants. Sardinia is one of the five Italian autonomous regions,
History of mining in Sardinia Sardinia to populate the new mining towns founded in the Sulcis-Iglesiente region such as Carbonia and Cortoghiana. The Geomineral Park of Sardinia, founded in 1989, and supported by UNESCO, today preserves the ancient mines and the ex mining villages that are become examples of industrial archeology. History of mining in Sardinia Mining and the processing of minerals date back to ancient times in Sardinia. Ancient traders and conquerors, attracted by the astonishing underground riches, were drawn to the island's coast. Evidence of ancient metal processing is given in the many placenames connected with mining: examples include Argentiera, Montiferru, Funtana Raminosa,