ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to stress the role that social factors play in the construction of an area of land and the way it is perceived, using Sardinia as a case study, both as a whole island and with reference to some geographical areas. The claim that landscape is a millenary palimpsest in which we can read our history is fitting in the case of Sardinia, as it is recognised as a rural landscape, still retaining the physical marks left by a system of rules and standards handed down over the centuries, thus confirming that insularity is an intrinsic element of effective sociocultural sustainability. Moreover, the low population density of Sardinia clarifies the identity of much of the region, as if the lack of human presence has helped keep intact, rather than erase, the symbolic power of the elements that make the different historical stages of the region legible (Turri, 1998).
