Arborea is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

province of Oristano The province of Oristano ( it, provincia di Oristano, sc, provìntzia de Aristanis) is a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia in Italy. Its capital is the city of Oristano. It has an area of , a total population of 160,746 (2016), ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, whose economy is largely based on agriculture and cattle breeding with production of vegetables, rice, fruit and milk (notably the local milk product Arborea).

History

Arborea was built by the fascist government of Italy in the 1920s, after the draining of the marshes which covered the area. The village was populated by families, mostly composed of

peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

, who came from the regions of

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

and

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...

in north-eastern Italy.

Name

Arborea is named for and lies within the medieval

Giudicato of Arborea The Judicate of Arborea ( sc, Judicadu de Arbaree, it, Giudicato di Arborea, ) or the Kingdom of Arborea (, , ) was one of the four independent judicates into which the island of Sardinia was divided in the Middle Ages. It occupied the central ...

, which had its capital, at various periods, in nearby

Tharros Tharros (also spelled Tharras, Archaic Greek: , Hellenistic Greek, Tarras or Tarrae, Τάρραι) was an ancient city and former bishopric on the west coast of Sardinia, Italy. It is currently a Latin Catholic titular see and an archaeologica ...

and

Oristano Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...

. The town was originally named ''Villaggio Mussolini'' (with which it was inaugurated on October 29, 1928), by the fascist government in honor of the Italian fascist dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

. Less than two years later, the name was revised to ''Mussolinia di Sardegna'' ("''Mussolinia of Sardinia''", to distinguish the town from ''Mussolinia di Sicilia'', now

Santo Pietro Santo Pietro is a small village (''frazione'') of the Comune of Caltagirone, Sicily, Italy, with a population of c. 90 people. History The settlement was founded as ''Mussolinia di Sicilia'', one of several settlements across Italy founded by t ...

in the commune of Caltagirone,

Province of Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1, ...

).voce "Arborea" ''da'' F.C. Casula, ''Dizionario Storico Sardo'', Carlo Delfino Editore, 2001, Sassari The current name was adopted after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Twin towns

Mortegliano Mortegliano ( fur, Mortean) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 60 km northwest of Trieste and about 14 km southwest of Udine. Mortegliano borders the following municipalities: Bi ...

Sermoneta Sermoneta is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Latina (Lazio), central Italy. It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque cathedral called Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and a massive castle, built by the Caetani f ...

Zevio Zevio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southeast of Verona. Zevio borders the following municipalities: Belfiore, Caldiero, Oppeano, Palù, Ronco ...

Villorba Villorba is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice and about north of Treviso. Villorba borders the following municipalities: Arcade, Carbonera, Ponzano Veneto, Poveg ...

References

External links

History of Arborea and Mussolinia
Planned cities Italian fascist architecture Populated places established in 1928 Planned cities in Italy 1930 establishments in Italy States and territories established in 1930 {{Sardinia-geo-stub