Villasimius Sardinia

Villasimìus is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 35 km east of Cagliari. Dur to its strategically important site, Villasimius' territory was inhabited since prehistoric times, as testified by nuraghe (19th-6th centuries BC), Phoenician-Carthaginian (7th-2nd centuries BC) and Roman (3rd century BC-6th century AD) remains. During the giudicati (Sardinian kingdoms), Aragonese and Spanish dominations, the territory suffered numerous pirate raids, and became increasingly depopulated. The village name was, at least from the 13th century, Carbonara; this was repopulated from the early 19th century, when it was under the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, becoming a comune in 1838. Villasimius' economy was traditionally based on agriculture and shepherding and, from 1875, to the extraction of granite. Tourism began to grow of importance from the 1960s, and is now Villasimius main economical activity. In 1998 the Protected Sea Area of Capo Carbonara was created on the coast. ( source Wikipedia )