The Municipal Historical Archives of Sant’Antioco, which became a separate archival section in January 1995, preserves the fonds of the historical archives of the municipality (1793-1969) and some aggregate archives (Congregation of Charity then E.C.A., Tug of War, Kindergarten Gen. Carlo Sanna, Conciliatura and School Patronage). The documentation is kept in the premises of the former Carabinieri Horse Barracks, a building restored in April 2000, where an educational laboratory is operating that enables schools to study local history from documentary sources. Of notable importance is a volume of the Community (Registro de entrada y salida de los dineros de esta comunidad de San Antiogo ut intus) that chronicles the institutional activity of the Community from 1793 to 1815. In addition to economic activities (mainly agro-pastoral in nature), some highlights of Sant’Antioco’s modern history are described. One can recall the devotion to the patron saint who gave the island its name or the barbarian invasions, which prevented for several centuries, economic and population development and kept the community away from the sea for a long time. In March 2010 the Municipal Historical Archives carried out research work at the Archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, which preserves very important documentary evidence of the Sulcitan territory and the island of Sant’Antioco (called immediately after the Aragonese conquest in 1323 Illa de Sols). Specifically, very important documents, belonging to the fund of the Royal Chancery, were found and acquired as copies, confirming the feast of Sant’Antioco in 1360 and attesting to the first naming of the island of Sant’Antioco in 1375.
