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CALASETTA

The community of Calasetta with its 3.000 inhabitants located in the north of the island of Sant'Antioco makes part of the province Carbonia-Iglesias. Calasetta, which was founded by Ligurian families coming from the Tunisian city of Tabarka in order to work the waters as coral fishermen, became one of the famous tourist destination because of its beautiful beaches like Spiaggia Grande and Salina.

Calasetta is a fascinating place with its typicall mediterranean architecture of the historical houses, its cultural and gastronomic traditions. The beaches of Calasetta alternate rocky and sandy areas where local vegetation has allowed the formation of suggestive sandy dunes modelled by the wind.

The town of Calasetta is connected daily by ferry boats with the smaller neighbour island of San Pietro which is worth a visit. The main city of this island the picturesque Carloforte, an ancient ligurian fisherman's village that preserve their traditions and language, is famous for the red tuna fish.

ISLAND OF SANT'ANTIOCO 

Sant'Antioco is not only the name of a Sardinian island but also the name of a municipality on this peninsula. Located in the southwestern part of Sardinia Sant'Antioco is about 87 km away from the town of Cagliari, the economic and political centre of the Mediterranean island. The pensinsula of Sant'Antioco can be reached by car thanks to the artificial isthmus already constructed by the Romans.

With a surface of about 109 sq km Sant'Antioco is the fourth largest island in Italy after Sicily, Sardinia itself and Elba. The island has to municipalities, the one of Sant'Antioco with nearly 12.000 inhabitants and the one of Calasetta with approx. 3000 inhabitants. Because of its population origins, one Sardinian, the other one from the northern Italian regions Piemonte and Liguria, the two towns have a complete different history, tradition, culture and also language – and this only at a distance of 8 km!

Beaches and main sights of Sant'Antioco
The coast of Sant'Antioco is varied with its sandy beaches and coves and rocky cliffs and therefore the ideal place not only to enjoy the sun and the clear sea water but also to exercises oneself in diving, sailing and kite and wind surfing. In general the access to the beaches which offers also Baywatch service and rental of umbrellas and deck chairs is free.

Recommended beaches are Cala Lunga, Porto Sciusciau, Porto della Signora, Spiaggia Grande, Salina and Cala Sapone. Spectacular is the steep coast of Capo Sperone in the south of the island.

Apart from the beautiful seaside Sant'Antioco offers also archeological and cultural sites worth a visit: The main sights of the peninsula are the Palaeochristian Basilica of Sant'Antioco (after which the town is named), the Roman bridge with two arches situated at the town's entrance, the Punic necropolis and the Phoenician-Punic tophet (type of sacrificial cemetery), a museum which collects the archeological artifacts found on the island, the fortification Su Pisu and the surprising Byssus museum (Byssus are the filaments created by mollusks, by which they can attach themselves for example to hard substrates. The ones of the Mediterranean Pinna Nobilis shell are fine and silky and about 6 cm long and were weaved in former times into precious clothing.)

TO SEE IN THE VICINITY

By the isthmus one can reach easily the main island of Sardinia and therefore beautiful locations like Porto Pino with its sandy dunes, the archeological site of the ancient city of Nora, the amazing Costa Verde with the high sandy dunes of Piscinas and the old mines of the Sulcis region.

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