Castiadas is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of South Sardinia The province of South Sardinia (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy, instituted on 4 February 2016. It includes the suppressed provinces of Province of Carbonia-Iglesias, Carbonia-Iglesias and ...

in the Italian region

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, located about east of

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

. Founded in the 14th century and repopulated in the 19th century after centuries of abandonment, it is part of the Sarrabus-Gerrei historical region. In 1875 the largest penal colony in Italy was opened in Castiadas, and remained in use until 1956. The construction of the penal colony was part of a larger initiative to repopulate areas of Sardinia that had been abandoned because of malaria and to transform marshy, unproductive land into farmland. The history of the colony is recounted in ''Il miracolo dei rei'', a documentary film by Alessandra Usai. The area was populated by italian-tunisians, mainly of sicilian descent, immigrated here from

Bizerte Bizerte (, ) is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Africa, located north of the capital Tunis. It is also known as the last town to remain under Fr ...

in 1965.Tunisini da 50 anni a Castiadas hanno trovato lavoro e famiglia
unionesarda.it 9 August 2015 Castiadas borders the following municipalities: Maracalagonis, Muravera, San Vito, Sinnai,

Villasimius Villasimius (; ), is a (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about east of Cagliari. History Due to its strategically important site, Villasimius' territory was inhabited since prehistoric ...

References

Cities and towns in Sardinia {{Sardinia-geo-stub