Carbonia with Iglesias is one of the main cities of their province. The city officially founded in 1938, during the fascist regime period, is located in an area that till that time was inhabited by only 3000 people that lived in small villages and settlements near to the coalfield and South of the river Cixerri.

Carbonia (whose name comes from the main economic resource of the area) was built in less than a year and it is a typical example of the fascist architecture, a concentration of important buildings such as the Town Hall, the Church, a tall residential building (torre littoria), also seat of the fascist political party and an afterwork club, all edified along via Roma, orientated towards East in the direction of Rome.

Of major interest: the church of San Ponziano, entitled to the Roman Pope of the III century, who was condemned to forced labour in the local coal mines and became after his death, the patron saint of the city and of the coal miners.

The North-western district of the city hosts an interesting archeological area, known as Monte Sirai, where there are the ruins of a Phoenician-Punic necropolis, the rests of a tofet (a sanctuary, a place of sacrifice where small children and small animals are buried), some "domus de janas" (cave tombs built in the rock) and the Nuraghe Sirai (a typical megalithic tower) and the annexed Neolithic village.

Symbols of the city are the two metallic towers of the Large Mine of Serbariu, coalfield open between 1937 and 1963; the complex has been restored and refurbished and transformed into a museum for didactic purposes and hosts the Italian Coal Cultural Center. The museum is an illustrated walk through the coal history with a precious collection of exhibits that represent the mine and its miner: mine lamps, old and modern digging instruments and equipment, photos, documents, interviews and old filmed documentaries on the miners.