The promise of Mahdia has a tendency of coming almost true. While wandering around the city, many of the elements of the city's past is spotted, but it either is too obviously restored, or too little.

In the 10th century Mahdia was a very important city, but even more, it was the capital of one of the Muslim worlds most important line of rulers, the Fatimids. The first Fatimid ruler declared himself as the Mahdi, the last prophet of Islam. The Fatimids moved their centre to Egypt after conquering Cairo, and Mahdia had been the capital for just 50 years.