Villaspeciosa

Overview and Geography

Villaspeciosa (Bidda Spetziosa in Sardinian) is a plain municipality of 2,519 inhabitants situated at an altitude of 12 meters in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari. Positioned along the Cixerri River and the Rio Mannu (Marzizza) stream between the Campidano plain and the Sulcis hills, its territory ranges from 7 to 200 meters elevation and includes part of Lake Cixerri.

Etymologically, the name derives from Villa (“Village”) combined either with Spaziosa (referring to the variable, unpredictable agricultural fertility of local soils) or the Latin Speciosa (“Beautiful”).

Economy and Culture

• Agropastoral & Manufacturing Economy: Primary crops include wheat, vegetables, fodder, citrus, olives, and vineyards (producing Nuragus and Monica wines). Small industrial sectors include dairy, extraction, brickmaking, metallurgy, furniture, and construction.

• Festivals and Events: Cultural heritage is preserved by the San Giovanni di Seruis Cultural Association. Major events include:

  • Festa de Sa Candelora (February 2): Distribution of blessed candles.

  • Patronal Feast of Maria Santissima Assunta (August 15): Religious services and civil celebrations.

  • Sagra di San Platano, Sant’Antioco, & Sagra de S’Abiu (Late August): A major tradition starting on the preceding Tuesday with the Balli del Pane (women baking bread) and Friday’s alder branch collection (Sagra de S’Abiu) where men build the church arbor (Sa lolla). Celebrations feature community pasta lunches (Sa Maccarronada), ox-drawn processions, goccius hymns, and Fregua groga saffron pasta feasts.

History

Populated since the Nuragic era (Cilixianu nuraghe at Cuccureddus) and developed during Roman times. During the 3rd to 6th centuries, the site of San Cromazio flourished as a Roman staging station along the road between Caralis and Sulcis.

In the Middle Ages, the village belonged to the Giudicato of Caralis, passed to the Donoratico della Gherardesca family in the 13th century, and was granted by the Crown of Aragon to Giovanni Tola (1374), the D’Aragal family, and later the Bon Crespi di Valdaura family until feudal abolition.

Main Sights and Architecture

Town Center

• Parish Church of the Beata Vergine Assunta: Built in rustic style in the last quarter of the 16th century (became the parish seat around 1599). Houses a 1585 bell in its large bell gable and the Crocifisso Doloroso, a late 16th/early 17th-century articulated wooden crucifix.

• Romanesque Church of San Platano: Built in 1114 by Victorine monks from Marseilles in Tuscan-Lombard Romanesque style. It is one of the world’s only churches dedicated to Saint Platanus (legendary brother of Saint Antiochus). Features a rare double-nave and double-apse layout separated by columns, incorporating Roman spolia from San Cromazio.

• Town Hall (Municipio): Located at Piazza Croce Santa 6.

• San Platano Park & Multi-Purpose Sports Field: Public park housing an open-air sports court (200 seats) for football, calcetto, and tennis.

• Civic Facilities: Includes the municipal gymnasium on Via Roma, sports field on Via Iglesias, and the municipal cemetery.

Archaeological Sites and Outlying Area

• San Cromazio Archaeological Area: Located 1.2 km northwest of town, a 3rd to 6th-century late Roman and early medieval staging post and village. Contains thermal bath structures and a paleochristian church featuring a 160-square-meter polychrome floor mosaic—the largest and best-preserved paleochristian mosaic in Sardinia—decorated with geometric motifs and libation vases. Materials from the demolished church were reused in 1114 to construct San Platano.

• Mitza Cuccureddus Archaeological Site: Discovered in 1978 during aqueduct construction near the SS130, comprising a megalithic wall enclosure protecting a natural spring (mitza) and a Nuragic settlement.

• Lake Cixerri & Genna Is Abis Dam: A 25-million-cubic-meter artificial reservoir created between 1980 and 1992 by damming the Cixerri River.

• Ruins of San Giovanni di Seruis: Remnants of an ancient chapel and vanished medieval village located on the shores of Lake Cixerri.

• San Giovanni Disused Naval Ammunition Depot (Polveriera): An 80-hectare former Italian Navy ammunition assembly facility and bunker complex, now disused.

• Villaspeciosa-Uta Railway Station: A Silver-category station located on the Decimomannu–Iglesias line along the SP90.