Portoscuso (Portescusi in Sardinian) 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 west 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 ...

and about northwest of Carbonia. The languages used here are Italian and Sardinian Campidanese. Portoscuso borders the following municipalities: Carbonia,

Gonnesa Gonnesa is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italy, Italian region Sardinia, located about west of Cagliari and about northwest of Carbonia, Italy, Carbonia, in the Iglesiente subregion. The town was refounded ...

, and San Giovanni Suergiu. Portoscuso

History

Human presence in this territory dates back to

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times.

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

sites include the ruins of several

Nuraghe The nuraghe, or nurhag, is the main type of ancient megalithic Building, edifice found in Sardinia, Italy, developed during the History of Sardinia#Nuragic period, Nuragic Age between 1900 and 730 BC. Today it has come to be the symbol of ...

(e.g. Baccu Ollasta) and the

rock shelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long or wide, rock shelters are alm ...

of Punta Niedda, where the bones of 6 individuals and various objects of the

Bonnanaro culture The Bonnanaro culture is a protohistoric culture that flourished in Sardinia during the 2nd millennium BC (1800–1600 BC), considered to be the first stage of the Nuragic civilization. It takes its name from the comune of Bonnanaro in the pro ...

were recovered in the 1940s. The area was then frequented by the

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

, followed by the

Punics The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'', ...

and the Romans of whose passage some evidence remains, in particular regarding the funerary aspect, with the necropolises in the San Giorgio and Piccinu Mortu areas. In the

Middle Age Middle age (or middle adulthood) is the age range of the years halfway between childhood and old age. The exact range is subject to public debate, but the term is commonly used to denote the age range from 45 to 65 years. Overall This time span ...

this territory, as the rest of the Sulcis region, was part of the

Giudicato of Cagliari The Judicate of Cagliari (, ) was one of the Sardinian medieval kingdoms, four kingdoms or judicates (''iudicati'', literally "judgeship") into which Sardinia was divided during the Middle Ages. The Judicate of Cagliari occupied the entire southe ...

until 1258, then it was part of the

Della Gherardesca The House of Gherardesca was an ancient Italian noble family of the Republic of Pisa, of Longobard origin. The family likely dates back as early as the 11th century. They were one of the most prominent families initially in Pisa, then of Volte ...

possessions and later, from 1324, part of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

, one of the kingdoms forming the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

. The town originated in the 17th century from a hamlet inhabited by

tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bul ...

and

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

fishermen. Its name came from the Catalan ''Puerto Escos'' (hidden port). It became a ''

'' in 1853, during the rule of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

Notable sights include the Spanish Tower (16th century), the church of Madonna d'Itria (17th century) and the Arsenal, known as ''Su Pranu'' (17th century). The town is extremely proud of its famous tuna

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

, and is restoring the original buildings.

Demographics

In 1861, the year of the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

, Portoscuso had 502 inhabitants. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the industrial center of Portovesme developed during the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1951 and 1961 the population grew by +42.6%, while between 1961 and 1971 by +32.8%, the demographic increase continued until the 1990s, reaching almost 6000 inhabitants in 1991. As of 2023 1.3% (65 people) of the population was foreign, of which the largest group were

Moroccans Moroccans () are the Moroccan nationality law, citizens and nationals of the Morocco, Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who ...

, Chinese and

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

Economy

At Portoscuso there is Sulcis Power Station, the largest power station of Sardinia, whose chimney is the tallest man-made structure on Sardinia. As of 2023 Portoscuso is the municipality with the highest per capita income in the province of South Sardinia, equal to 19,600€.Corriere della sera
I redditi degli italiani nel 2023, Portofino è la città più ricca: la mappa dei comuni
24 April 2024

Gallery

Portoscuso, Carbonia-Iglesias, Sardinia, Italy - panoramio.jpg, View from the sea File:Su_Pranu 2.jpg, Su Pranu tuna fishery File:Portopaglietto Portoscuso.jpg, Portopaglietto File:Portoscuso-PuntaSAliga01.jpg, Punta S'Aliga File:Portoscuso faro, Portovesme CI, Sardinia, Italy - panoramio.jpg, The

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

File:Caletta_Portoscuso.jpg, Sa Caletta File:Nuraghe Punta Maiorchina.jpg, Nuraghe Ghillotta II File:Tombe romane Portoscuso.jpg, Roman tombs near Punta Maiorchina

References

External links