The collapse both of this temple and of that of Heracles must be attributed to an earthquake; many fallen blocks of the former were removed in 1756 for the construction of the harbour of Porto Empedocle.
On the mainland, on the south shore of the Golfo dell' Asinara, is the harbour of Porto Torres, the only one of any importance on the north-west coast of Sardinia.
There is daily steam communication (often interrupted in bad weather) with Civitavecchia from Golfo degli Aranci (the mail route), and weekly steamers run from Cagliari to Naples, Genoa (via the east coast of the island), Palermo and Tunis, and from Porto Torres to Genoa (calling at Bastia in Corsica and Leghorn) and Leghorn direct.
A fortnightly line also runs along the west coast of the island from Cagliari to Porto Torres.
All these lines (and also the minor lines from Golfo degli Aranci to La Maddalena and from Carloforte to Porto Vesme and Calasetta) are in the hands of the Navigazione Generale Italiana, there being no Sardinian steamship companies.
