Sardinia · Sulcis Iglesiente
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.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 44 min from Cagliari
- Population
- 2,790
- J14°
- F15°
- M16°
- A18°
- M21°
- J26°
- J30°
- A30°
- S27°
- O23°
- N19°
- D16°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 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.
How to get there
From Cagliari (CAG), about 1 h 54 min by car.
Every town within reach of Cagliari airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
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.
Living here
Could you live here?
Calasetta is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,790. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Sant'Antioco, is 24 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Carbonia, a city of 25,623, is 37 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 2,790, down 3.7% since 2015
- Nearest city Carbonia, 37 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Carbonia, 17 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,300 to €1,800 per m² to buy, €4.70 to €6.50 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 86% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Cagliari airport (CAG), 1 h 52 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Cagliari, across the water
If you are moving here
Who lives here
2% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania and Germany, against 9% across Italy. 18 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany. There are 370 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 62% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. The old province of Sud Sardegna ranks 94th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Carbonia, 17 km as the crow flies. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 446 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Chatterbox Schools and College, 71 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.76% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds between 0.4% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €10,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Sardinia spends about €1,790 a month, €530 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €539 a year for water, on the Sardinia average.
Climate and risk
1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 2% in a high or medium one. 3% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
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.
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 Sulcis Iglesiente, in Sardinia, at 9 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Calasetta?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cagliari (CAG), about 1 h 52 min 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.
- Which other towns are like Calasetta?
- Badesi, Posada and Alghero.
- How many people live in Calasetta?
- 2,790 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Calasetta a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Calasetta is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Sant'Antioco, is 24 min away. The nearest city, Carbonia, is 37 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Carbonia, 17 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 86% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 9 m
- Population: 2,790
- Surface area: 31.06 km²
On the map
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.
Similar
Towns like Calasetta
What all six share with Calasetta: near sea level
Badesi
Province: Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna
both on the Sardinian coast · both under 3,000 people
Posada
Province: Nuoro
both on the Sardinian coast
Alghero
Province: Sassari
both on the Sardinian coast
Stintino
Province: Sassari
both under 3,000 people
Gardone Riviera
Province: Brescia
both under 3,000 people
Dolceacqua
Province: Imperia
both under 3,000 people
The 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: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Calasetta comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Monte Argentario, 436 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.