Sant'Antioco and San Pietro: the Sulcis archipelago in southern Sardinia

Sant'Antioco is a town in the southern area of Sardinia, located on the remains of Sulki, one of the oldest cities in the western Mediterranean. The town is the main town on the island of the same name, followed by Calasetta and the tourist villages of Maladroxia and Cussorgia. There are numerous beaches and coves in the area which is extremely linked to summer seaside tourism. With a ferry you can easily reach the island of San Pietro with the town of Carloforte which is part of the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy. Among the most beautiful beaches Sa Caletta, also known as Cala dello Spalmatore, which in the past seems to have been a resting place for Phoenician, Roman and Punic navigators who used it to stop and spread the ships with pitch to waterproof them. From this custom comes the name of the beach. One of the best known natural areas is 'the columns', which can be reached with a breathtaking nature trail. These are two 20-meter high stacks, but today only the base of one of the two remains since the other was shot down into the sea in November 2013 due to a violent storm. There are many legends related to the two stacks: one says that St. Peter turned two sea monsters into stone to protect the island, while another tells that the two monoliths were two sailors transformed by divine punishment.