The church of San Simone stands on the islet called Sa Illetta, which originally had an area of about 160 hectares, now reduced to 40 following the construction of the canal port. The island was probably a Phoenician, Carthaginian, and later Roman seaport. A medieval phase is also certainly conceivable, which can be reconstructed almost exclusively from the documents of the late 17th century, which describe architectural emergencies of some significance pertaining to the Villa of Santa Gilla, which stretched between the village of Sant’Avendrace, the Fangario, the shore of the Santa Gilla pond and the hill of San Michele. In this territory, whose existence is documented in a map dated between 1066 and 1071-1073, the capital of the Giudicato of Cagliari was founded, destroyed in 1258 at the hands of Pisa and supplanted by Castel di Castro. A few cisterns remain from the Roman period, while a large room with a cross vault supported by a centrally located column testifies to the site’s frequentation in the early medieval period. Although no concrete traces of the Judicial capital have been found in Sa Illetta, it is nevertheless possible to detect evidence of the period in the church of San Simone. The oldest phase of the building, could be identified in the apse ascribed to the 11th-12th centuries. Within the lunette is painted the figure of Saint Simon, based on a sketch by Cagliari painter Felice Melis Marini (1871-1953). The lack of written records does not allow us to precisely date the church, which is nevertheless mentioned in a document dated October 14, 1406. On this date the edifice and islet of San Simone were ceded to the priory of San Saturnino by the archbishop of Cagliari, who in return obtained the church of Santa Lucia di Lapola and the adjoining monastery, recognizable today only from archaeological remains in Cagliari’s Marina district. The church of St. Simon and the adjoining farm are currently privately owned. The first planting of the farm dates back to 1567, a time when the wealthy Cagliari notary Sabater had it built. In 1716, after several passages of inheritance, the property came into the hands of Michele Cervellon, who expanded the extent of the buildings and built the second floor. The house reached its final size in the early 19th century, when Baron Vincenzo Amat of Sorso became the owner. On March 24, 1915, the property was purchased by John Balletto.
