The island joined by a Roman isthmus
In the south west of Sardinia, Sant'Antioco is the largest island of the Sulcis archipelago and the fourth largest in Italy, connected to the mainland by an isthmus and a bridge, whose origins date back to Roman times. Its main town, also called Sant'Antioco, stands on the site of Sulky, one of the oldest Phoenician cities in the western Mediterranean, founded in the eighth century BC, later Carthaginian and Roman.
The ancient city has left extraordinary remains. The Tophet is a Phoenician-Punic open-air sanctuary where, among the rocks, thousands of terracotta urns containing the cremated remains of infants and small animals were deposited, together with carved stone stelae; for a long time it was thought to be a place of child sacrifice, while today many scholars believe it was a sacred cemetery for children who died young. The necropolis of Punic chamber tombs dug into the rock was later reused as catacombs by the early Christians, under the basilica of Sant'Antioco, the martyr saint of the island, where the catacombs can be visited. The Archaeological Museum Ferruccio Barreca displays stelae, ceramics, jewellery and a pair of Roman lions. The island is also known for the byssus, the "sea silk", an ancient fabric woven from the filaments of the noble pen shell, a craft still kept alive by a few women.
Tip: the village of Calasetta, on the northern tip of the island, has white houses and beaches, and ferries to Carloforte.
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