Carbonia trip planner

Carbonia is a town and comune, which along with Iglesias is a co-capital of the province of Carbonia-Iglesias, Sardinia, Italy. It is located in the south-west of the island, at about an hour by car or train from the regional capital, Cagliari.HistoryCarbonia was officially inaugurated on the 18 December 1938. Benito Mussolini ordered the building of the city and was present at its inauguration. The city was built in order to provide housing for the workforce of the nearby mines. The name Carbonia comes from the Italian word for coal, a resource that is abundant in this region.The city has grown considerably since its birth in 1938, due to mass immigration of populations come from every region of Italy, in particular from Veneto, Sicily, Abruzzo, Marche, Basilicata and Campania, now boasting a population of over 30,000.Since the mines' closing during the 1970s, Carbonia has had to deal with a high unemployment rate. After the closure of the mines the town's economy was converted on the metallurgical industry, so today most Carbonians find their employment in the heavy industry, but also in the tertiary sector.Main sightsMonte Sirai, a hill in the surroundings of the city that hosts the ruins of a Phoenician-Carthaginian built-up areaDomus de janas in the surroundings of Sirri and Monte CrobuRomanesque church of Santa Maria di Flumentepido (11th century)Former Serbariu coal mine, now turned into a museum and a site of industrial archaeology