Surrounded by gentle hills, Maracalagonis has eight thousand inhabitants and is located in the southeastern part of the Campidano area, 15 kilometres from the Island's capital city. It is renowned for its homemade pastries, basket weaving and Sardinian brocade costumes. Its territory, framed by the mountains of Punta Serpeddì and the Oasis of Sette Fratelli (Seven Brothers), extends as far as the coastal tourist localities of Geremeas and Torre delle Stelle. A land inhabited since prehistoric times (3rd millennium BC), as is evident in the Eneolithic necropolis of Cuccuru Craboni, the Pre-Nuragic village of Cann'e Sisa and the remains of various Nuraghi, later frequented by Phoenician and Punic populations. As well as the ruins of a Punic temple, two sandstone statues of the god Bes were found and are kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari. In the current village area, various other little villages emerged in the Middle Ages, among which Mara and Calagonis, which belonged to the Giudicato of Calari. From 1416, in the Aragonese age, the union of these two localities gave rise to the municipality of Mara de Calagonis.