Sant'Antioco (; ) is the name of both an island and a municipality (''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'') in southwestern

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, in the

Province of South Sardinia The province of South Sardinia (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy, instituted on 4 February 2016. It includes the suppressed provinces of Province of Carbonia-Iglesias, Carbonia-Iglesias and ...

, in Sulcis zone. With a population of 11,730, the municipality of Sant'Antioco it is the island's largest community. It is also the site of ancient

Sulci Sulci or Sulki (in Greek , Stephanus of Byzantium, Steph. B., Ptolemy, Ptol.; , Strabo; , Pausanias (geographer), Paus.), was one of the most considerable cities of ancient Sardinia, situated in the southwest corner of the island, on a small isla ...

, considered the second city of Sardinia in antiquity.

Island of Sant'Antioco

Sant'Antioco is the second largest island of the Sardinian region, after Sardinia itself, with a surface of ; it is also the fourth largest in Italy after

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, Sardinia and

Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...

. It is located some from

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, to which is connected through the SS126 state road, using a modern bridge. The island is divided between the two municipalities of Sant'Antioco and Calasetta. Other settlements are the small tourist resort of Maladroxia (a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'' of Sant'Antioco municipality) and Cussorgia, part of Calasetta. The coast of the island is in part sandy and in part rocky. The main beaches in the island are Maladroxia and Coaquaddus, in the municipality of Sant'Antioco, and Sotto Torre, Le Saline and Spiaggia Grande in the municipality of Calasetta.

History

The island of Sant'Antioco was settled at least from the 5th millennium BC (the so-called culture of San Michele of Ozieri), which was based mainly on fishing and agriculture. Typical tombs (called ''

domus de janas Domus de Janas ( Sardinian for 'House of the Fairies' or, alternatively, 'House of Witches') are a type of pre-Nuragic rock-cut chamber tomb found in Sardinia. They consist of several chambers quarried out by the people of the San Ciriaco throug ...

'') and

menhir A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...

s belonging to this culture have been found. The island also housed the

nuragic civilization The Nuragic civilization, also known as the Nuragic culture, formed in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy in the Bronze Age. According to the traditional theory put forward by Giovanni Lilliu in 1966, it developed after multiple migr ...

: findings include the

Giants' grave Giants' grave (; or ) is the name given by Sardinians, local people and archaeologists to a type of Sardinian megalithic gallery grave built during the Bronze Age by the Nuragic civilization. They were collective tombs and can be found throughou ...

of Su Niu de su Crobu ("Crow's Nest"). In the 8th century BC the

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns founded a new settlement, with the name of Sulky (

Punic The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' ...

:) or Solki, of which a

tophet In the Hebrew Bible, Tophet or Topheth (; ; ) is a location in Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), where worshipers engaged in a ritual involving "passing a child through the fire", most likely child sacrifice. Traditionally, the sacrifice ...

(children)

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

has been excavated. Later (6th century BC) it became a Carthaginian colony, to which another necropolis belongs. The Punic domination ended in the 3rd century BC, when Sulky was conquered by the Romans, who connected it to the mainland through an artificial

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

. During the civil war between

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

and

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

it sided with the latter, being severely punished after his defeat. During Roman times, it was called Plumbaria, after its

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

deposits. The current city name derives from St. Antiochus, evangelizer of the area, who was martyred in 125 AD. After the decline and the end of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

, Sant'Antioco was a fortified strong point of the Byzantines. It was repeatedly attacked by the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

s starting from the early 8th century, and gradually abandoned by the inhabitants who fled to the more protected inner area; the island mainly remained important as the end of pilgrimages devoted to St. Antiochus. A new settlement (''bidda'' in Sardinian) was established around 935 by the

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

(the local title for lord) of

, but this also was abandoned after the end of the ''giudicato''. The island was a territory of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

(created in 1324) and later was acquired by archbishopric of Cagliari (1503) and, in 1758, by the religious Order of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro. In the 18th century the area began to be repopulated and toward the mid of the century there were 38 houses, 15 workshops, and 164 huts, with some 450 inhabitants. In January–May 1793 the island was occupied by French troops under admiral Laurent Jean François Truguet, and the citizens freed from ecclesiastical taxes. The last attack by North African pirates occurred in 1815; the same year in which the

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

of the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

were brought back to the cathedral.

Main sights

*The Palaeo-Christian Basilica of Sant'Antioco, restored in 1089–1102 with its

catacombs Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

*Roman bridge *Roman fountain *Ancient

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

*Phoenician and Punic necropolises *

Tophet In the Hebrew Bible, Tophet or Topheth (; ; ) is a location in Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), where worshipers engaged in a ritual involving "passing a child through the fire", most likely child sacrifice. Traditionally, the sacrifice ...

*Hypogeal village *Ferruccio Barreca Archaeological Museum *The Forte Su Pisu (1812)

Events

In the period from 15 May to 15 June a famous tuna " mattanza" is held, with fishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna (''Thunnus thynnus'').

Climate

Gallery

File:Basilica di Sant'Antioco Martire.jpg, Basilica of Sant'Antioco Martire File:Roman bridge, restructured and restored in medieval times, Sant'Antioco, Sardinia (16153128443).jpg, Roman bridge File:Sant’Antioco 44.jpg, Tophet File:Le scogliere (2386381514).jpg

References

External links

Sant'Antioco cultural site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sant'antioco Islands of Sardinia Populated places established in the 8th century BC Populated coastal places in Italy