Sassari

With a population of about 130,000, Sassari, the island’s second-largest city, is an important university town and administrative center, notable for its history of intellectualism and bohemian student culture. Look for downtown vendors of fainè, a pizzalike chickpea-flour pancake glistening with olive oil, which is a Genoese and Sassarese specialty. The mazelike old town is blissfully isolated from the chaotic traffic swirling though the newer neighborhoods—Sassari is the hub of several highways and secondary roads leading to various coastal resorts, among them Stintino and Castelsardo.