Calasetta and South West of Sardinia

Description

The history of Calasetta began in 1769, when 38 families of coral (later tuna) fishermen, originally from Pegli but coming from the Tunisian island of Tabarka, already founders of Carloforte, asked King Carlo Emanuele to also populate the northern coast of the island of Sant’Antioco. The 130 settlers from Tabarchi settled in Cala de Seda, opposite the island of San Pietro, along the coastal routes of passage for tuna, whose fishing has made Carloforte and Calasetta famous and contributes to their culinary delicacies. Then Piedmontese settlers arrived, who brought precious wine cultivation techniques, hence the production of the famous Carignano del Sulcis. Finally, other settlers arrived from Sicily. Today three thousand inhabitants populate the second urban center – after Sant’Antioco – of the largest Sulcis island. The original Tabarchine and Ligurian characteristics are unchanged, including the language. The village, extremely regular and tidy, is perched on a hill that descends to the port. In the center stands a tower built by the Savoys before the foundation to defend the canal between the two islands. Calasetta is characterized by the white of the houses, the blue of the sky and sea and the green of the junipers. The coast is low and sandy to the north-east with three wonderful beaches: Spiaggia Grande, Sottotorre and Le Saline, whose soft sands swell into dunes surrounded by a pond, an avifaunal oasis. While to the west, cliffs overlooking the sea dominate: the suggestive Mangiabarche shines, guarded by a lighthouse on the opposite rock, and the splendid Cala Lunga, an emerald green fjord that leads from the open sea to a sheltered beach. You will reach some sections only by boat, on foot or by mountain bike, such as Cala Tuffi, a swimming pool surrounded by rocky walls. And then there are Portixeddu, made of pebbles, and the Sparrows’ Nest, a pair of stacks emerging from the water as a refuge for birds.

Evidence of Calasetta’s prehistory is the domu de Janas of Tupei, where fragments of terracotta, bronze and clay objects were found. There is no shortage of remains of nuraghi placed on bricchi (reliefs). In the countryside, rock carvings from the Phoenician age, remains of a (perhaps) Punic sarcophagus and, from the Roman age, obsidian finds and ruins of an ancient building have been discovered. In the Middle Ages the territory was frequented by the inhabitants of nearby Sulki (now Sant’Antioco), a Phoenician colony conquered by the Carthaginians, which reached its maximum splendor in Roman times. A visit to the contemporary art museum (MACC) is unmissable, which houses a collection of pictorial works that summarizes European trends between 1960 and 1970.