Santadi

Santadi
Comune
Comune di Santadi
View of Santadi
Santadi Location within Sardinia
Coordinates: 39°6′N 8°43′E / 39.100°N 8.717°E / 39.100; 8.717
Country	Italy
Region	Sardinia
Province	Sulcis Iglesiente
Government
• Mayor	Elio Sundas
Area [2]
• Total	116.49 km^2 (44.98 sq mi)
Elevation	135 m (443 ft)
Population  (2026)[3]
• Total	3,029
• Density	26.00/km^2 (67.35/sq mi)
Demonym	Santadesi
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	09010
Dialing code	0781
Website	Official website

Santadi is a town and comune (municipality) in the Province of Sulcis Iglesiente in the autonomous island region of Sardinia in Italy, located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Cagliari and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Carbonia. It has 3,029 inhabitants.^[3]

Santadi borders the municipalities of Assemini, Domus de Maria, Nuxis, Piscinas, Pula, Teulada, Villa San Pietro, and Villaperuccio.

Starting from a hill next to the small town of Santadi, it is possible to see how the urban development system develops in concentric circles. This fact gave rise to the hypothesis that Santadi is what remains of the capital of the island mentioned by Plato in the third chapter of the Timaeus and in Critias.^[4][5]

Demographics

As of 2026, the population is 3,029, of which 49.2% are male, and 50.8% are female. Minors make up 10.7% of the population, and seniors make up 34.7%.^[3]

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% 1861 1,520 —     1871 1,677 +10.3% 1881 1,787 +6.6% 1901 2,163 +21.0% 1911 2,456 +13.5% 1921 2,812 +14.5% 1931 3,069 +9.1% 1936 3,213 +4.7%	Year Pop. ±% 1951 4,142 +28.9% 1961 4,538 +9.6% 1971 3,964 −12.6% 1981 3,944 −0.5% 1991 4,061 +3.0% 2001 3,767 −7.2% 2011 3,570 −5.2% 2021 3,194 −10.5%
Source: ISTAT[6][7]

Immigration

As of 2025, immigrants make up 1.7% of the total population. The 5 largest foreign countries of birth are Germany, Romania, France, Poland, and Belgium.^[8]

References

1. "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
2. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011" (in Italian). ISTAT.
3. "Resident population". ISTAT.
4. Usai, Luigi (2021-03-18). Atlantide è il blocco continentale Sardo-Corso sommerso durante i Meltwater Pulse: Dopo l'ultima glaciazione (in Italian). Independently Published. ISBN 979-8-7238-5624-0.
5. Usai, Luigi (2021). La mappa di Atlantide (in Italian) (1 ed.). Quartucciu (CA): Amazon. ISBN 978-3-8482-2822-5.
6. "Popolazione residente dei comuni. Censimenti dal 1861 al 1991" [Resident population of the municipalities. Censuses from 1861 to 1991] (PDF) (in Italian). ISTAT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-11-12.
7. "Resident population - Time series". ISTAT.
8. "Resident population by sex, municipality and citizenship". ISTAT.