The best traffic-free bike rides around Câdesédda/Calasetta

The small harbor, with its colorful houses and charming little restaurants, whose inviting aromas fill the air, gives the town of Sant'Antioco its characteristic maritime atmosphere. This famous town of the Sulcis archipelago, with 11,000 inhabitants and tens of thousands of visitors in the summer, is the most important town on the largest island of Sardinia, to which it is connected by an artificial strip of land probably created by the Phoenicians and improved by the Romans. The main sources of income are fishing, salt production, and agriculture, as documented by the Su Magasinu de su binu folklore museum.

Lots of information and amazing finds from an ancient culture. You have to be interested, though.

Carloforte, still closely linked to Pegli and Genoa, is the island's only center, with 6,000 inhabitants. It enchants with its many narrow streets rising up a gentle slope, its colorful corners and sea views, its small harbor, and its former defenses, of which watchtowers and sections of walls with forts can still be seen, including La Porta del Leone. Among the architectural highlights of this town, which is included in the Club of the Most Beautiful Towns in Italy, are U Palassiu, dating from the early 20th century and now the Giuseppe Cavallera Cinema, and the Church of the Madonna del Naufrago, which houses the wooden statue venerated by the Tabarkin people, a symbol of the faith and solidarity of the community.

The crossing takes 35 minutes.

There are many interpretations of the name. Some trace its origin to the Campidanese-Sardinian contraction of Cala de Seda, or Cal'e Seda, or also Cala Seda, or Cal'e Sera, or "silk cove". In fact, in the Campidanese-Sardinian language, seda or sera means "silk", because the sea of the Sulcis archipelago was apparently rich in particular mollusks from which "sea silk" was obtained, that is, a type of "natural sea silk" obtained from the threads secreted by a species of marine bivalve mollusk endemic to the Mediterranean (Pinna nobilis), commonly known as "castanets" or "feather mice" (Pinnae margaritiferae). The threads obtained from their interior were used for weaving byssus.

The Basilica of Sant'Antioco Martire, in the historic center of the island of the same name, is one of the oldest places of worship in Sardinia. Built between the 4th and 7th centuries over a Punic necropolis, it houses the relics of Sardinia's patron saint, a physician originally from Mauretania. The building, enlarged by the monks of Saint Victor of Marseille and remodeled in the Baroque period, preserves a complex complex of early Christian catacombs beneath the altar, which are still open to visitors.

The Carloforte Tonnara is one of the last active tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean, testifying to a fishing tradition rooted in the island's history. Every spring, the "mattanza" (tuna slaughter) takes place, the traditional method of catching tuna, passed down for centuries and still practiced today using historic techniques. The tonnara, with its buildings overlooking the sea and ancient work tools, tells an important chapter in the island's economic and cultural history.

A pleasant, scenic walk along the harbor and the calm waters of the lagoon. From here, you can admire the sunset over the gulf, watch the fishing boats return, or simply enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the seaside village.