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00 Calasetta
Stemma di Calasetta

Sardinia · Sud Sardegna

Calasetta

The Ligurian town founded by Tabarka exiles in 1770 on the northwest tip of Sant'Antioco, where Tabarchino is still spoken in the streets.

Best time
May–Oct
By car
1 h 44 min from Cagliari
Population
2,775

Known for

  • TABARCHINO

    Ligurian dialect carried from Tabarka in Tunisia via the 1770 settlement, still spoken in the streets alongside Italian.

  • TORRE SABAUDA

    Eleven-meter Savoy coastal watchtower built in the late 18th century, the town's emblem and an exhibition space.

  • MACC

    Unusually serious contemporary art museum for a town of 2,800, with a collection of 1960s and 1970s European painting.

When to visit

Best · May–Oct

  • J14°
  • F15°
  • M16°
  • A18°
  • M21°
  • J26°
  • J30°
  • A30°
  • S27°
  • O23°
  • N19°
  • D16°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

Why come

Calasetta sits on the northwest tip of the island of Sant'Antioco, founded in 1770 by Ligurian families who had spent two centuries on the Tunisian island of Tabarka working as coral fishermen for the Genoese Lomellini. When the Tabarka colony collapsed in 1738, King Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy received them in the Kingdom of Sardinia: part settled Carloforte on Isola di San Pietro, the rest received Calasetta thirty-two years later. The grid plan and low whitewashed houses come from that founding.

The Tabarchino dialect, a variant of Ligurian, is still spoken alongside Italian. The Torre Sabauda, an eleven-meter truncated cone built in the late 18th century as part of the coastal defense network, now houses an exhibition on the town and the territory. The MACC, the Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 2007, holds a collection of European painting from 1960 to 1970 unusual for a town of three thousand.

The Sunday letter

Calasetta is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Calasetta comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Calasetta in our articles

How to get there

From Cagliari (CAG), about 2 hours by car.

Every town within reach of Cagliari airport.

Calasetta, photo 1
Calasetta, photo 2

What to see

  • Torre Sabauda

    Late 18th-century coastal watchtower, eleven meters high in truncated cone form, built by the Savoy government against pirate raids.

  • MACC

    Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 2007, holding a collection of European paintings from the 1960s and 1970s.

  • Centro storico tabarchino

    Grid of whitewashed low houses laid out in 1770 by the Ligurian Tabarka settlers, still the core of the town today.

  • Spiaggia Sottotorre

    Town beach below the Torre Sabauda, shallow water and pale sand, popular for swimming with families and easy to reach from the centro.

  • Porto di Calasetta

    Ferry harbor with regular crossings to Carloforte on Isola di San Pietro, the standard way to reach the smaller neighboring island.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Calasetta fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Living here

  • Population 2,775
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Regional capital Cagliari, 1 h 45 min drive

Common questions

What is Calasetta known for?
Calasetta is the Ligurian town founded by Tabarka exiles in 1770 on the northwest tip of Sant'Antioco, where Tabarchino is still spoken in the streets.
Where is Calasetta?
Calasetta is a comune in the province of Sud Sardegna, in Sardinia, at 9 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Calasetta?
Cagliari (CAG), about 2 hours by car.
When is the best time to visit Calasetta?
Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Calasetta?
Yes. Sagra del pilau. May is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Calasetta?
Badesi, Posada and Alghero.
How many people live in Calasetta?
2,775 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 9 m
  • Population: 2,775
  • Surface area: 31.06 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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