Carbonia ( ; sc, Crabònia ) 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 South Sardinia The Province of South Sardinia ( it, provincia del Sud Sardegna; sc, provìntzia de Sud Sardigna) is an Italian province of Sardinia instituted on 4 February 2016. It includes the suppressed provinces of Carbonia-Iglesias and Medio Campidano, ...

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 ...

. Along with Iglesias it was a co-capital of the former

province of Carbonia-Iglesias The province of Carbonia-Iglesias (, ) was a province in the autonomous region of Sardinia, Italy. It included the historical area of Sulcis-Iglesiente and it was the smallest province of Sardinia. It is bordered by the provinces of Cagliari and Me ...

, now suppressed. It is located in the south-west of the island, at about an hour by car or train from the regional capital, Cagliari.

History

Carbonia was founded on the 18 December 1938 by the

Fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. Benito Mussolini ordered the building of the city and was present at its inauguration. The city was built to provide housing for the workforce of the nearby mines. The name Carbonia comes from the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

word for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

, abundant in the area. Vitale Piga was appointed mayor of Carbonia and served in that capacity from September 28, 1939 to April 24, 1942. Piga authored a book on the coalfields of the Sulcis region titled ''Il giacimento carbonifero del Sulcis: Carbonia''. The city has grown since its founding in 1938 due to immigration from elsewhere on the island and from mainland Italy (in particular from the regions of

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Abruzzo, Marche, Basilicata and

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

), reaching about 45,000 residents in 1951. Currently it has a population of over 28,000. Since the closing of the mines in the 1970s, Carbonia has had a high unemployment rate. After the closure of the mines the town's economy was converted to the metallurgical industry. Today most Carbonians are employed in heavy industry, and in the tertiary sector.

Main sights

* Monte Sirai, a hill in the surroundings of the city that hosts the ruins of a

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n- Carthaginian built-up area * Domus de janas in the surroundings of Sirri and Monte Crobu *Romanesque church of Santa Maria di Flumentepido (11th century) *Former Serbariu coal mine, now turned into a museum and a site of industrial archaeology

Government

International relations

Carbonia is twinned with: * Oberhausen, Germany *

Behren-lès-Forbach Behren-lès-Forbach (, literally ''Behren near Forbach''; german: Behren) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Between 1812 and 1925, it was part of the commune of Kerbach. Population See also * Communes ...

, France, since 2005 *

Labin Labin (Italian/Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac and Vinež, as well as a number of smaller villages). ...

, Croatia, since 2010 * Raša, Croatia, since 2010

References

External links

Official website

1937 establishments in Italy States and territories established in 1937 Populated places established in 1937 Planned cities in Italy Italian fascist architecture {{Sardinia-geo-stub