Best ever pizza – Sant’Antioco, Sardinia, Italy

Last night we braved a walk out in the dark with head torches in search of pizza in Villamasargia. I have not been a pizza fan for a couple of years back home but the one we shared at the ferry port has given us a taste for Italian pizza and that one was bought in Spain.

We went straight to the Jupiter Pizzeria which has great reviews, including “best pizza I have ever eaten”. There were several local guys gathered outside putting the world to rights. So we decided to join them with a drink in the very traditional bar, like a French tabac a bit like a cafeteria with a lotto terminal. The tall young bar man was very friendly and bought over our Ichnisa local beer in bottles (rather than draught Heineken). A 660ml (more than a pint) bottle costing only €2.50, half UK bar prices.

The large tv screens, apparently obligatory here, blared out a tv quiz. The written onscreen questions was a good bit of Italian comprehension homework and I doing quite well on the quiz. However, we were ready for food and headed into the red checkered tableclothed pizzeria room. There was only us dining in on a wet Tuesday in late November, however several locals came and went with takeaway boxes which we took to be a good sign.

Amusingly they had buttons on the table to ask for your waiter or the bill. However, we had no need to use this as what appeared to be the wife of the pizza chef came over to take our order. Kevin went for the house special with tuna and anchovies and I went for the garden pizza with aubergine, broccoli, courgette, mushrooms and artichokes with a bottle of local wine and two beers it came to €38. Bargain.

My pizza was genuinely the best I have ever had. Thin and full of flavour. The veg looked like it had been seared on the griddle before cooking, it was quite moist because of all the veg but somehow not soggy at all. Really delicious. Kev was equally impressed with his. When the chef came over to ask if we had enjoyed our dinner I had to type into Google translate, so I was not misunderstood, that it was the best pizza I ever had. The chef looked genuinely thrilled and even took a photo of my phone with message on. We left a good tip and the chef / owner insisted on taking us through to the bar for a shot of Mirto as a thanks, it is a local Sardinia drink based on local myrtle berries which look a lot like sloe berries. It was very nice.

So we stood at the bar having a very mixed English / Italian chat (sometimes having to resort to typing into each other’s phones) with the bar man, whose name we both promptly forgot but who was a very friendly local guy. He recommended a number of places to visit though sadly several back where we had already been, more beaches and mines. He broke all kinds of stereotypes, by like us, not being the least interested in the World Cup football now playing on the screens, instead being a kick boxer. He was born and raised Sardinia, living in a nearby village and seemingly very contented to stay. A really nice night out.

This morning, we decided it was time to move on from our campsite and really was time to do some laundry. So we stopped off in the metropolis of Carbonia with shopping malls, stadiums and McDonald’s after our time in the sticks. We eventually managed to park at the train station whilst I headed to Speedy Wash.

It was a busy little laundrette as I sat with three older Sardinian ladies who seem to have come on a sociable laundry outing together. I explained I was English and could not understand the question about the drier. Luckily a bit of mime seemed to work. One of them appeared to ask if I was visiting Sardinian which I agreed I was and she smiled brightly at me, she was obviously happy to share her homeland with visitors.

We had a massive 17 minute drive across the causeway and bridge to the island of Sant’Antioco. An island off an island. We are pulled up by the shore and a lovely looking marina in the island’s capital, also called Sant’Antioco. We attempted to pay the 5€ / night to stay here, payable at the restaurant. There were two guys heading out the door as we arrived. I explained we want to pay but he said it was shut and no problem. So we have (hopefully correctly) concluded it is free currently, though it also means that the toilets are locked, but as we got full services at the campsite we are fine for now.

We arrived during the afternoon siesta period so decided to delay our explorations until things are open. Instead we have been plotting our forward plan as the festive season is now approaching. We had thought to go to Corsica next, however, being a much smaller, apparently more holiday type location the reports we have read suggest very little is open and services are difficult to locate. So we are now looking at a cheeky plan to take the ferry to Sicily and from there onwards to the boot of Italy for a full length tour.

So we have spent the afternoon reading up on blogs of places to go etc. Helpfully one account was there actually for Christmas and New Year, although a few years ago and it sounds like it will be a much livelier place for the festive season.