Italy, like the rest of Europe, is a patchwork of languages, and Sardinia is a good example. Sardinians grow up speaking Italian just like their countrymen on the mainland. But before Mediterranean’s second largest island became part of Italy in 1861 and started speaking and teaching standard Italian, it had already had a long, complex history that left this sunny piece of real estate barely the size of New Hampshire (or a bit bigger than Wales) with not one but at least three languages. keep reading