Abstract The post-Variscan hydrothermal activity and mineralization in Sardinia (Italy) is reviewed in the framework of the geological and metallogenic evolution of Western Europe. The deposits can be grouped into (a) skarn, (b) highto low-temperature veins and (c) low-temperature palaeokarst. The structural, stratigraphical and geochemical data are discussed. The results suggest three hydrologically, spatially, and possibly temporally, distinct fluid systems. System 1 (precipitating skarn and high-temperature veins) is characterized by magmatic and/or (?) magmatically heated, meteoric fluids of low-salinity. The source of metals was in the Variscan magmatites, or in the Palaeozoic/Precambrian basement. System 2 (low-temperature veins and palaeokarst) is represented by highly saline, Ca-rich (formation or modified meteoric) fluids. Sources of the metals were the pre-Variscan ores and carbonate rocks. System 3 is characterized by low-temperature, low-salinity fluids of meteoric origin. The hydrothermal deposits related to Systems 1 and 2 can be framed in a ‘crustal-scale hydrothermal palaeofield’, characterizing most of the post-orogenic mineralization in Variscan regions of Western and Southern Europe, allowing for local age differences of each single ore district and background effects. The suggested timing for the hydrothermal events in Sardinia is: (1) Mid-Permian (270 Ma), (2) Triassic-Jurassic. It is suggested that the Mesozoic events were related to the onset of Tethys spreading.