Named after Sidi es-Saadi el Barrani, a Senussi sheikh who was a head of its Zawiya,[2] the village is mainly a Bedouin community.

It has food, gasoline outlets and one small hotel, but virtually no tourist activity or visited historical curiosities.

[3] Located close to the Roman city of Zygra, in the Roman province of Libya Inferior, Sidi Barrani is often mentioned in historical records to mark the limit of the initial Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya.

The battle continued until 10 December, in which 30,000 British troops defeated almost 80,000 Italian soldiers holding the town.

was a catchphrase for Kenneth Horne in the BBC radio comedy show Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh which ran from 1944 to 1954 and was initially about life on a mythical Royal Air Force (RAF) station.