| Villanovafranca | |
| Official Name: | Comune di Villanovafranca |
| Native Name: | Biddanoa Franca |
| Pushpin Map: | Italy Sardinia |
| Coordinates: | 39.65°N 9°W |
| Region: | Sardinia |
| Province: | South Sardinia |
| Mayor: | Matteo Castangia |
| Area Total Km2: | 27.59 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 1373 |
| Population As Of: | 30 November 2015 |
| Population Demonym: | Villanovesi |
| Elevation M: | 292 |
| Saint: | San Lorenzo |
| Day: | August 10th |
| Postal Code: | 09020 |
| Area Code: | 070 |
Villanovafranca (Biddanoa Franca, Bidda Noa Franca in Sardinian) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 50km (30miles) north of Cagliari and about 13km (08miles) northeast of Sanluri.
Villanovafranca borders the following municipalities: Barumini, Escolca, Gesico, Guasila, Las Plassas, Villamar.
Big attractions are the nuraghe Su Mulinu with its homonym museum and the church of San Lorenzo.
The name Villanovafranca is believed to have its origins in the fact that the town was a tax free zone. However, there are no documents that clarify whether the villa was built with the benefits of the concessions or, like all the other Villanovae, it was born with rural function and changed its name when it acquired the concessions. However, the presence of nuragic settlements is confirmed, demonstrating that a residential center existed even before it took its current name.
The famous scholar Goffredo Casalis in his works, at the end of the list of the Marmilla villages, wrote: "[...] from Arbarei [...] to Villanovaforru and Villanovafranca. All the pre-named populations are of immemorial antiquity. Most recent of all it seems Villanovafranca up the extremity of the department and frontier of the Arborense kingdom".
Still, Pasquale Tola is the first among scholars to mention a date of foundation of the town, 1219.
The current town was built in the Aragonese period (around the 15th century), and in 1541 it was incorporated into the Barony of Las Plassas, a fief of the Zapata family. It was redeemed from the last feudal lord, Don Lorenzo Zapata Spiga Vivaldi, baron of Las Plassas, in 1839 with the suppression of the feudal system. Since then it became a municipality administered by a mayor and a municipal council.
Su Mulinu Archaeological Museum, the former wheat storehouse or montegranatico: it was founded in 2002 and exhibits the objects found in the Su Mulinu site that span a chronological period from the Prehistoric Age to the Early Middle Ages.
The production of durum wheat and the cultivation of olives, vines, almonds and saffron (a local product which has been awarded with the DOP (European Union Denomination of Protected Origin) mark) are particularly important in the municipal area. There are several agropastoral farms, some of considerable size, where pigs, sheep and cattle are raised. These local farms guarantee several jobs.