Carbonia

Built from scratch in the 1930s by the fascist regime to house workers at the Serbariu coal mine, Carbonia is a planned town in south-west Sardinia whose origins are written into its name — literally "place of coal." The mining era has ended, but the town's rational grid and period architecture remain as a record of that industrial ambition. Cagliari is about an hour away by car or train, and UNESCO-listed sites lie within the wider region.

• Population21,664
• Nearest water from center0.7 km
• Nearest mountain from center3.9 km
• UNESCO within 50 km1