Cà de Anna, a stay worth to try

The typical fisherman house can accommodate up to 8 people in 4 beautiful rooms, it is located in the highest part of the village, a few steps away from the beach, few meters from the central square, the Savoy Tower and a few hundred meters from the harbor.
As a perfect accomodation for an easy going, but charming, holiday, guests can enjoy air conditioning and heating, a fully equipped kitchen, a comfortable living room, a panoramic terrace, and a sheltered garden. The house is provided with wi-fi hy speed internet connection, microwave owen, dishes, glasses, cutlery and pots, dishwasher, washing machine, fireplace, tv, linen, towels and beach equipment, including hats, beach umbrellas and toys.

One can walk to the beach and enjoy to be in the very center of the village of Calasetta.  The village is on Sant’Antioco Island which is linked by a bridge to main island of Sardinia.

 

Cà de Anna
A view of the lounge

 

The unique, archaic dialect, the fabled food with its Ligurian and Arab influences, the local music, the processions and the farmers’ markets add up to provide visitors with an unforgettable chance to experience what is truly a timeless place. The village is inhabited all year round from about 3000 residents has a nice port and square, the Savoy tower scenic waterfront and panoramic lookout.  Calasetta was founded in 1770 by colonist from Genoese origin that were leaving the island of Tabarka in Tunisia where they stayed for almost two centuries. The village is now inhabited all year around by 3000 people and lives mainly on fishing, agriculture, sailing and tourism.

You can walk to the port to find fresh fish in the afternoon when fishermen came back from sailing or to rent a rubber dinghy to sail around. You can also go to the ferry terminal and ship to San Pietro Island for dinner and enjoy a walk in the nice small town of Carloforte. On wednesday morning a market take place at the port, you can buy fresh vegetables, fruits, typical cheese, bread and souvenirs. At night the harbor promenade is alive with stalls of local products and African and Oriental clothes for a walk and a funny and cheap shopping. The port of Calasetta was born driven by the trade in wine and products of tuna phishing. Now home to some small fishing boats and many pleasure boats and sailsboats particularly those wooden with square sail, so-called “Latin”. The port is also the terminal for the ferries to Carloforte.


 

The romantic lighthouse of Mangiabarche is one of the symbols of Calasetta. It is located less than half a mile from the coast, just off the tip of the Cape of the Old Tonnara. At sunset Mangiabarche gives its best and, in the storms it becomes a place full of charm and fascination.  From Cà de Anna you need to drive for 3 km to reach the Cape of the Old Tonnara and Mangiabarche. You can bike there or drive and find a large parking area at walking distance to the cove in front of Mangiabarche, where you can swim and dive looking to the lighthouse.

From Cà de Anna you need to drive for 3 km to reach the Cape of the Old Tonnara and Mangiabarche. You can bike there or drive and find a large parking area at walking distance to the cove in front of Mangiabarche, where you can swim and dive looking to the lighthouse.


 

The Savoy Tower of Calasetta was built in 1729 as a watchtower and defense tower against attacks from the sea, mainly at the hands of Arab pirates. Built of red trachyte, a typical stone island, stands at the highest point of the village and overlooks the beautiful beach of Sottotorre and let to admire a beautiful view of St. Peter’s Island and Carloforte.  The Tower is very close to the house and one can walk to admire the landscape and visit the small archaelogic museum.
The square is also home to night event in the summer. The Tower is the perfect location for civil weddings that often take place there.
The Tower of Calasetta was built in 1729 as a watchtower and defense tower against attacks from the sea, mainly at the hands of Arab pirates.
Built of red trachyte, a typical stone island, stands at the highest point of the village and overlooks the beautiful beach of Sottotorre and let to admire a beautiful view of St. Peter’s Island and Carloforte.

 



Sardinia is famous for its emeraldine sea and white beaches that you can find on Sant’Antioco Island and particularly in Calasetta, together with amazing cliffs, breathtaking landscapes, visible both by land as by sea.

You will have no doubt: the whole Island is worth to visit and discover.

map by Milena Savic
map by Milena Savic

The unspoiled landscape, the easy-going local people, the fabulous traditional food and the island’s simple lifestyle all combine to relax the visitor’s mind and delight the senses. The Caletta bar/restaurant provides nice food, sun umbrellas, deck chairs and sunbeds, together with services as showers and toilettes. A dinner on the beach is recommended. Atmosphere and nice foods are worth to try. You can spend your time swimming, walking in the water and snorkelling.

Sottotorre beach is a stone’s trow away from the house. Its white sand and shallow water are perfect as children playground and swimming pool. Surrounded by the cliffs, ones that prefer rocks can swim and go snorkeling around. Sottotorre beach is sheltered from the winds of the east, south-west and south and is instead exposed to the mistral wind. It faces San Pietro Island and is the perfect location to admire the sunset.

You can walk, drive or bike to Salina Beach and spend a day there. Part of the beach is equipped with umbrellas and sunbeds and there is a kiosk where you can find ice cream and drinks and eat sandwiches and salads. La Salina is a beautiful beach at less than one kilometer from Cà de Anna.

The beach is surrounded by white sand dunes and pinewood. Just behind the beach there is a saline where flamingos and other beautiful migratory wading birds live.

Spiaggia grande is surrounded and sheltered by dunes and an ancient pine and juniper wood. Emeraldine water, white and soft sand allow along the sea walking. Spiaggia Grande is less than 3 km away from Cà de Anna. Our guest can drive or bike there or join the beach sailing from the port. It is the widest beach of the island. It ends with the Punta Tonnara (Cape of the ancient Tuna fish plant). Spiaggia Grande is less than 3 km away from Cà de Anna. When a strong Mistral wind blows the beach becomes a magical place for lovers of windsurfing and kite surfers. The beach terminates at the Punta Tonnara (the cape takes its name from the ancient Tuna fish working plant).


Here we are, native orchids flowering period is now!

On the island of Sant’Antioco, especially near Calasetta, there are up to 60 species of different genera of native orchids that flower between January and April and continue to flower until June in some areas on main Island Sardinia.

Many of them are very rare and at risk of extinction because of the indifference of the masses who do not know about them and fail to appreciate and protect them.

Do not forget to drink… Sardinian!

«Every region in Italy has its own unique identity but there’s something particularly distinct about Sardinia. Sitting 200km off the coast, it’s the most isolated. The locals consider themselves Sardinian rather than Italian. In fact, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, Sardinia is like a mini-continent unto itself. The landscape changes every few miles as do the dialect, traditional dress, cuisine and wine».

This is what  Michaela Morris, contributor or Vancouver Westender writes today on the Canadian online magazine. Read the full article

Fall in love and get married in Sardinia

The island of Sardinia is captivating and often has people falling in love with it. It is often said of Sardinia that it gives you the same kind of homesickness that some people get when they leave Africa.

It happened to me. I fell in love with the island a long time ago; when I first met my husband and found out he was from Sardinia. Later, when I visited the island and got to know it better, thanks to him, I was forever spellbound and gave in completely to its charm. So much so that I decided to move there.

Carloforte, a beauty on the Island in front

Carloforte and Calasetta share Tabarkin origins, founded in 1738 and 1770, respectively, by Genoese settlers from Tabarka, a Tunisian island, who had lived on the island for several centuries, fishing and trading red coral.

The Genoese, great seafarers, traders and fishers, are proud of their origins. Despite the influences — first Arabic and then Sardinian — they maintained many of their traditions (including culinary ones), and, most notably, their own language.

Beaches, beaches, so many beaches…but where to start?

No question that one of the most common reasons for taking a trip to Sardinia is the beauty of its sea and beaches.

The island of Sant’Antioco has gorgeous ones and there are more all around it, on the island of San Pietro and in the gulf of Palmas, as well as on the western coast of Sulcis Iglesiente.

I’ve been to all of them (or almost), but some of them I frequent and know better; these are the ones that I consider “mine.”

Sea silk and linen: weaving magic

There are certain things that only very obstinate women can do. Saving the world, for one!

Saving it from banality, cheap commerce, vulgarity and standardization. There are women, many women, who are very obstinate and very capable. And even in the silence around them, they manage to work for humanity and make it better.

Tratalias: a ghost town of wonders

Tratalias, a small medieval town in Sulcis, had a population of just over 1,500 in the 1950s when it started to be damaged by the infiltration of water from a dyke built near Rio Palmas, and the resulting construction of the Monte Pranu reservoir.

The worsening damage forced the town government to rebuild the town in a nearby, slightly hilly area where the residents were all relocated.


Red People

Sa genti arrubia (“the red people”) is the name for flamingos in the Sardinian dialect.

Phoenicopterus roseus — their scientific name — are red because of their diet predominantly of shrimp and mollusks. These migratory wader birds are graceful and absolutely elegant; Sardinia is their perfect habitat with its many wetlands where some live year-round.

Flamingo
Photo by Lorenzo Sestrieri of Obiettivo Mediterraneo