Romangia IGT is a key IGT title used on the Italian island of Sardinia. It covers a coastal portion of the Sassari province in northern Sardinia, specifically the area surrounding the towns of Sorso and Sennori, the key centers of the historical Romangia region which gives the IGT its name. The Romangia viticultural area follows the Mediterranean coastline as it sweeps around the Gulf of Asinara from Porto Torres to Castelsardo. It then spreads inland from the coast for about ten miles to take in Sassari, Sardinia's second-largest city and the administrative capital of the Sassari province.
Although a wide variety of wine styles are permitted under the appellation laws, most Romangia IGT wines are dry, red table wines produced from Grenache, which is known locally as Cannonau. Although this is the traditional homeland of Sardinia’s Cannonau wines, Romangia (and Sassari more widely) remains relatively unknown as a wine region, and is far from the island’s most famous vinicultural region; that title would surely go to Cagliari. Although a brief period of success in the 1960s raised the region’s profile slightly (due to the efforts of the then-flourishing Sorso-Sennori co-operative winery) there has been little quality wine produced in this area for several decades.
Wine has been made in Romangia for over 3,000 years, as manifested by the ancient terracotta storage jars now carefully preserved in the Museo A. Sanna in Sassari. These date back to 2,500 BC, a full 2,000 years before the Romans took control of the island. Romangia is one of Sardinia’s most fertile zones.
