'Sardinia is out of time and history', DH Lawrence wrote in his 1921 travel book Sea and Sardinia. "This land resembles no other place." More than a century later, his words still ring true in Gallura, which spreads north of the city of Olbia in the Italian island's mountainous north east. Although the region is best known for the blue water and white sands of its high-end Costa Smeralda or 'Emerald Coast', elsewhere it has a raw beauty. Wild boars roam its forested interior, where vine-clad hills produce zesty Vermentino wines that taste of sunshine and the sea.

Gallura's name is derived from the word 'gaddùra', meaning 'stony area' in the local dialect, and its landscapes are defined by granite- from giant boulders dotting wave-lashed headlands to otherworldly valleys hiding nuraghi (towering, cone-shaped Bronze Age structures). Scattered in between are rockhugging villages, where artisans make hand-knotted carpets, pottery and food the old-fashioned way-inspired by nature and deeply rooted in island traditions.

DAY ONE BAYS & BIZARRE ROCKS

Morning

Rise early for a short hike to Roccia dell'Orso, set high on a promontory at Sardinia's northeastern tip. Whittled by the elements over 300 million years, 'Bear Rock' was used by ancient mariners as a navigation aid. Pick your way through fragrant myrtle, broom and mastic, eyes wide for wheeling buzzards and kestrels overhead. At the top, the rock opens into a cave with killer views over the Strait of Bonifacio to the pink-granite Maddalena Islands. Afterwards, cool off swimming in the waters at nearby Cala Capra, a blonde bay fringed by evergreen scrub. For a seafood lunch, score a terrace table at Il Paguro, where specialities include lobster, and fregola pasta with saffron and king scampi. rocciadellorso.​com hotelcapodorso.​com

Afternoon