Patron saint festival In 10 days
Feast of Saint Raphael
📅 Every year, on 24 October
On 24 October Villasimius celebrates its patron Saint Raphael; the town preserves the Fortezza Vecchia and hosts the Archaeological Museum of Villasimius.
Villasimius has 3,420 inhabitants at the south-eastern tip of Sardinia, and until 1862 it was called Carbonara: the name came from charcoal, which was made here in quantity. The new name is older than the old one and comes from the Latin semus, diminished: either because the coastal village had been abandoned because of Saracen raids, or because the watercourses here stay dry almost all year. Capo Carbonara, after all, is the driest point in Italy.
Today's village was refounded on paper. In the eighteen-twenties the Marquis of Quirra distributed his lands, and general Antonio Incani built a church and the first houses there, calling in settlers from Sinnai, Maracalagonis, Settimo San Pietro, Selargius and Quartu. Autonomy came in 1853, with a decree signed by Vittorio Emanuele II and by Cavour. For centuries people here lived on farming, shepherding and charcoal — not on fishing, despite the sea — and tourism arrived only after the nineteen-fifties.
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Villasimius 1
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Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Villasimius
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Villasimius, but an easy day trip away.
Castellana Caves 📍 Castellana Grotte · 1.8 km A 3,348-meter karst cave system mapped in 1938, noted for its 60-meter-deep skylight and dazzling white formations. Santuario di Maria Santissima Regina del Mondo 📍 Monopoli · 6.4 km The sanctuary in the Antonelli district of Monopoli, rebuilt as a vow for the town's safety and consecrated in 1950. Rione Monti 📍 Alberobello · 13 km The 1,030 trulli of Alberobello's larger quarter, laid dry-stone to dodge a tax. Trullo Sovrano 📍 Alberobello · 12 km With walls reaching 2.70 metres in thickness, the Trullo Sovrano is the supreme example of dry-stone architecture. Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali 📍 Polignano a Mare · 13 km Puglia's only permanent contemporary art museum, set in a former slaughterhouse overlooking the sea in Polignano. Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate 📍 Fasano · 17 km The Observant friars' church in Fasano, with its dome, onion-spired bell tower and frescoed 1600s cloister.