The origin of the name

The use of the plural in antiquity was very common in place names of important seaside (an example is the name of Athenae, Syracusae, Pisae, Cumae), because most large cities, such as Carales were formed by many small agglomerations , together, constitute a single city. Over the centuries the name was developed, from Caralis or Carales became Calaris or Calares, and also Callares, with the acquisition of the double "l". At the time of domination Pisan subdued the influence of Tuscan spoken with a repetition of the "l", with the consequent transformation Càllari.

With the Spaniards became, then, finally, Cagliari, according to the form that preliminary Castillan double "l", "the". For all Sardinians Cagliari, is simply Casteddu extending to the name of the city's historic district Castello, founded by Pisa at the dawn of the thirteenth century AD.

The beginnings

The origins of Cagliari are ancient. The area around which it grew was frequented by humans since prehistoric period, as evidenced by the numerous testimonies found in the grotto of St. Elias, in the grotto of St. Bartholomew, in the grotto of Colombi and glues Monte Claro, that gave its name to the original civilization that flourished between 2500-2000 BC. Due to its geographical position at the centre of the Mediterranean, since ancient coastlines of Cagliari were a safe landing place for all those people who surfed with their agile ships. The first to land in the Gulf of Cagliari were the Phoenicians. They followed, in chronological order, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Arabs, Pisans, the Aragonese and the Spaniards, Austrians and, finally, the Piedmonteses.

Phoenicians and Carthaginians

The birth of Cagliari took place around the sixth century BC following up of populations Phoenician-Punic coming from the sea. Already century from the Phoenician sailors had established in Sant'Elia promontory in the lagoon and Santa Gilla for their commercial traffic. It was the Carthaginians to this primitive human settlement urban structure. They landed on the island around 509 BC The rescue of Phoenician, which had entered into conflict with the indigenous populations sardines. Under the dominion of Carthage, Cagliari extended from lagoon Santa Gilla until Bonaria hill.

The evidence of the presence in Cagliari the Carthaginians are numerous: the necropolis of Tuvixeddu, with its graves dug a pit in the rock; tanks to the water supply also dug into the rock, and often in the highlands of the city and the terracotta votive found in Santa Gilla; "tophet" (necropolis-sanctuary that hosted the ashes of children born dead or died prematurely, offered to the gods to promote new births) found in St. Paul, the Carthaginian tombs on the hill of Bonaria (of which testifies to the "canonico" Spano in his Guide to the city and outskirts of Cagliari, 1861), and finally, The temple dedicated to Astarte Ericina (Punic gods adored in Sicily) built on the hill of St. Elias. The Carthaginians island governed the city for three centuries, until the Romany, in 238 BC, extended their domination on Sardinia.

The Roman conquest

The Roman remained on seven centuries. During this period of time, the appearance of the city and its importance grew, so much so that it is stated as one of the most important centers of the island. It increased the market-oriented, which had since its origins. The port is traded wheat, salt and minerals. The importance of these trades is evidenced by the presence of a military department fleet in the Tyrrhenian Sea, escorting ships loaded with goods direct to the port of Ostia to protect them from plundering pirates. In Ostia it was discovered a mosaic certifying active participation in trade "navicularii et negotiantes Karalitani" (transporters and businessmen Cagliari).

The Roman Carales stretched from the Sant'Avendrace street until hill of Bonaria, preferring flat, and neglecting the hills. The forum was located in Piazza del Carmine. Around this area were also the Capitolium "(the temple dedicated to the triad capitolina: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva), the Basilica and other buildings trought to light during the excavations of 800. A temple-theatre was found in Angioj Street between 1938-39. Several spas were found in the zone between Villa of Tigellio and Largo Carlo Felice. Private homes were located between Tigellio street where the remains of three roman domus and a spa resist even, and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The burial sites were located in the streets to the center: in Viale Sant'Avendrace, on the hill of Bonaria and in Viale Regina Margherita where the in the late '800 was found a small necropolis classiari, the sailors of the fleet of Miseno .

The town was developed with a length up on the waters of the sea. The poet Claudianus, "De bello Gildonico", describes in these words: the city, founded by the Phoenicians powerful of Tyre, develops significantly to length in front of the Libyan coast and creeps into the sea with a small hill that breaks the violence of winds. Thus, in the middle, forming a port in a creek, safe from all the winds, lie the waters ... (Translated from Latin to Prof.. Piero Meloni in "Roman Sardinia, pp. 207).

Floro, in the I-II century d. C., defined: Urbs urbium, the most important city between the cities of Sardinia. Under the Roman domination in fact, the town expanded, the number of inhabitants grew reaching 20,000 units. Caesar, who stayed between 16 and 28 April 46, attributed the status of Municipium italicum, because to fidelity during the civil war against Pompeo. In the first centuries after Christ through the city spread across the island about Christianity. Cagliari, during the terrible

persecution that the new religion had suffered and wept its martyrs. The most venerable, even today, are: the Roman commander, Efisio, protector of the city, and the young martyr Saturnino, patron of the city. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Cagliari also lived the dark centuries of barbarian invasions.

Vandals, Goths and Byzantines

After the fall of the Roman, the town and the island were overwhelmed by the barbarian invasions. Vandals, Goths and Byzantines followed in the government of the city. After several raids along the Italian peninsula, the vandals of Africa occupied Cagliari and other cities on the coast. They ruled for nearly a century, from 455 to 533 AD. In 534 were defeated by the East of the emperor, Justinian, Tricamari near Carthage. Byzantium administered the island as a province of the Africa and divided into districts (called "meréie"), governed by a resident judex in Cagliari and a dux based in Traiani Forum (actually called Fordongianus). However, the government of Byzantium failed to protect the city from Arab terrible raids. The need to defend

themselves against these continuous attacks brought around 900 AD, to the emergence of a local government: the Judged of Cagliari, which chose as its capital Sant'Igia (Santa Gilla), located in the lagoon to protect the coasts, too exposed to Arab incursions.

The Judged of Cagliari

The birth of Judged of Cagliari and the others Judgedes ( Torres, Arborea and Gallura) was favored by the weakness of the empire of Byzantium, unable to defend the island with continuous raids of the Arabs, from 703-704 AD began to threaten the southern coast of Sardinia. To ensure greater security to the island coasts, the Byzantine judex, based in Cagliari, which had a mandate to govern the island, granted full powers to the civilian and military courts of the three provinces (meréie) of Torres, Arborea and Gallura, reserving the reign of Cagliari. Strengthening the power of local judges brought around 900 AD, the birth of Judgeds: true independent kingdoms each governed by its own court. Each had Judged its borders, one of its parliament, its laws (called in Sardinian language "cartas de logu"), and its own language. The Judged of Cagliari, also called

Pluminus, was the largest and most prosperous. It was developed in the southeastern part of the island. But not established its own government in the city, which was too exposed to pirate raids Arabs. The rivalry between the four kingdoms for the dominance and the interference in their internal affairs of the Republics of Pisa and Genoa, it caused the decline. The Judged of Cagliari, which supported Genoa in the struggle between this and Pisa, ceased to exist in 1258, when the capital of the kingdom, Santa Igia, was destroyed by Allied Sardinian-Pisan. Thus, the presence of Pisa consolidated.

Pisans

About In the1257, Pisans won to Genoa. During their government, Cagliari changed radically. The greater novelty concerned the displacement of the urban area, which was moved from the lagoon, where it was allocated to defend itself from Islamic aggression to the hill of Castello. The Pisans had obtained the fortress of the Castello, with its "pertinentiae" since 1217, by the Judge of Cagliari, Benedicta. They isolated the hill surrounding walls fortified and different towers (the tower of San Pancrazio -1305 and the tower of Elefante -1307). The importance of the Castello grew after the destruction, in 1258, of the capital Santa Igia. From the Pisans Cagliari was given a defensive system capable of protecting their businesses and face by the Islamic incursions and designes Aragonese. Beyond the walls of the Castello, they built fortifications around the

districts of Villanova, Marina and Stampace. At first, the town was administered by a "Capitaneus" from Pisa, as a result of two Castellani and one Head. The town had a type of government with its own organs of government and a statute: the Short Castles Castri Callari. However, Cagliari and foreigners were excluded from the fortified walls of the castle. The defensive efforts of Pisa failed to stop the armies of the Crown of Aragon who in 1324 took siege of the castle.

Aragonese and Spanish

In 1297, Pope Boniface VIII created the "United nominal Sardinia and Corsica" and He invested the king of Aragon, James II. However, the conquest of the Aragonese began only in 1323, after a long political and military preparedness. James II entrusted the shipment to the child, Alfonso, the Infante. This reached Cagliari with his army and he established his headquarters on the hill in front of the Pisan Castle, renamed Bon ayre (Bonaria) for the air they are breathing. After he besieged the enemy so as to prevent any access to the sea and to force to surrender. In 1324 the Pisans were defeated and in 1326 they was finally expelled from the city.

One of the first acts carried out was the abolition of Pisan legislation with the approval of a new statute, "Coeterum". The Aragonese amministered the city according to the model municipal of Barcelona, assigning all the tasks of government to the citizens catalan, maiorchini, valenzani and aragonese. The castle continued to be the center of political power, administrative and economic. The Castell de Bonayre depopulated and it began its decline. The Aragonese introduced on an unknown organization: the feudalism. James II, in fact, decided to reward the noble catalan, maiorchini and aragonese, and minimally also sardinians, who supported financially and militarily in the conquest of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Corsica was never conquered) granted them lands and villages to administer. Only the seven royal city of Cagliari, Oristano, Sassari, Bosa, Alghero, Castelaragonese and Iglesias enjoyed a special system and considerable privileges.

In 1355 Peter IV of Aragon, The Cerimonioso, introduced in the island the "Stamenti" , parliamentary institution with an advisory capacity. Following Sardinia enjoyed the autonomy government and it was managed by a viceroy, who resided in the Viceregal Palace in the Castello. The citizens of Cagliari and generally the Sardinians continued to be excluded from positions of government and from the walls of the castle. From 1328 until 1583, a blast of trumpet ( "la trompeta de fora sarts") ordered to Sardinian to leave the castle every evening at sunset, if they don't wanted to be thrown down from the ramparts!

In 1479, after the unification of the crown of Castile and Aragon, was born the kingdom of Spain and the island was under Spanish rule. In 1492, it was established in Cagliari the Court of the Spanish Inquisition. The most illustrious victim of terrible court was the lawyer Sigismondo Arquer. This accused of spreading and practicing luteranesimo, he was burnt alive in Toledo in 1571. The seventeenth century was pervaded by a deep religious sentiment aroused by "invencion cuerpos de los santos," or the discovery of relics of the holy martyrs of Cagliari. In Cagliari, the excavations of the holy relics were opened by Spanish Archbishop Francisco Desquivel. This built at his own expense the beautiful Martyrs' Shrine so as to give a worthy dwelling remains of the holy martyrs

In early 1600 was established in Cagliari the University, in this time known as Studio Generale. It was officially inaugurated in 1626 with four faculties: theology, medicine, law and philosophy. Its headquarters was established in a building located in Independence Square (where today stands the Palazzo Sanjust). In the last decades of Spanish government, the disagreements about to the positions of power were the cause of the suspicion and distrust climate that had been created between the nobility of Cagliari and the representatives of the Spanish crown. The discontent degenerated into unusual episodes of violence in which some islanders chiefs were involved. The most glaring example was the murder of the viceroy Camarassa on July 21, 1668. The plotters were killed and the marquis de Cea, Jacopo di Castelvì, accused of leading the revolt, was beheaded in 1671 in the Piazza Carlo Alberto, in Castello. Its head was displayed in a

cage above the entrance of the tower of Elefante for 17 years to discourage new attempts of revolt. In Canelles street there is a wall plaque on the wall it still recalls the episode, "para perpetua nota de infamia." In 1700, after the death of Charles II of Bourbon, in Spain the war of succession broke out . The island and the city were involved. In 1708, Cagliari was bombed by the English fleet of admiral Lake and it was occupied by British troops. Following the Treaty of Utrecht (signed in 1713) the island was ceded to Austria for a short period, during which there was the unsuccessful effort to recapture Spanish. In 1718, the Treaty of London granted to Vittorio Amedeo II, the Duke of Savoy, who became King of Sardinia .

The period of Savoy

In 1720 the Piedmontese government started. The new rulers inherited a country burdened by economic and social difficulties. Sardinia of Spanish was profoundly different from the others land of Savoy. They were different by history, the social and economic organization, language and traditions. However, only in 1759, after the appointment of Count Lorenzo Giambattista Bogino, for the position of Superintendent of the Secretariat of State for Affairs of Sardinia it undertook important reforms that tried to standardize on one hand, the costumes of the Sardinians with those of others lands, on the other, they tried to intervene on disastrous internal situation of the island. In 1764 it was reconstituted the University of Cagliari. In last years of 1700, a series of important political events happened. The most dramatic episode was the landing of the revolutionary French fleet, commanded by Admiral Truguet. At the end of December 1792, the French appeared in the Bay of Cagliari. The viceroy

Piedmontese Balbiano, undecided to resist with small military forces, finally left the island to France (much to feed the suspicion of a real betrayal, commented G. Sotgiu in "History of Sardinia of Savoy") . In face of his indecision, the "Stamenti", Parliament of the Kingdom, tried hard to organize the defense of the city and the island. Immediately the clergy offered his personal wealth to support them and it called the faithful to fight a genuine religious crusade. The city is mobilised immediately: the small Fort of St. Ignazio was equipped with cannons and new and powerful bastions were built with great speed. One of them was named to the patron saint Efisio, which Cagliari turned, invoking the protection. The popular militias, leaded by Jerome Pitzolo, repelled the French who were landed on the beach of Quartu.

Cagliari was bombed, but the fleet of invaders was rejected to sea. The Sardinian attributed the victory to Saint Efisio. The Stamenti, prouds of success obteined against the French fleet, asked to King Vittorio Amedeo III to reserve some public offices only for Sardinians, with the exception of the position of viceroy. The rejection of the sovereign and the continuous provocations of Piedmontese, residents in the island, resulted in May 1794, in Cagliari, in the expulsion of all Piedmontese. Each year, since a regional law (Law on September 14, 1993, n 44) established on April 28 "Sa die de sa Sardinia", the episode is remembered.

In 1795, the situation degenerated with the murder of Pitzolo and the Marquis of Planargia. Owing to these events, in the island there was a violent explosion of revolts against feudal: the rebels asked the abolition of feudalism and they took Sassari, forcing landowners to flee. In order to restore the law, the Judge Giovanni Maria Angioj was sent from Cagliari as a representative of the Viceroy. The triumphant march of Alternos in Sassari it awoke again the autonomist dream and the proclamation of the republic seemed imminent. The peasant masses received him with entusiasm, but when he came back to Cagliari, the multitude led by Angioj met the resistance of the moderates who withdrew their support. The revolt was repressed and the Alternos had to flee to France, where he died in 1808. Only in 1823, with the Enactment of the Chiudende, begin the slow and difficult process of abolition of feudalism. In the years that followed, the city hosted for fifteen years the King of Sardinia. In 1799 Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy, to sougth refuge in Sardinia and from 1806 to 1814, the palace located in the Piazza Castello, became the palace of the residence of Vittorio Emanuele I.

In 1812, there was an attempt to assassinate Vittorio Emanuele I. The plot, known as the conspiracy of Palabanda, (so named of the place where the plotters met, near the area where is the Botanical Gardens), matured in a year of economic crisis was headed out by Salvatore Cadeddu. He paid with his life the infidelity to the crown of Savoy. In the Botanical Garden, near the central tub, a plaque affixed in 1992 recalls this tragic episode. In 1847, Cagliari won the document it stretched to Sardinian subjects the laws and regulations already in force in the rest of Savoy. The merger was perfect and it was hailed by Cagliari with large enthusiasm. The most important and immediate action to the island were the abolition of the separate customs regime, the introduction of civil and criminal codes, the extension of the Statute Albertino (the constitution granted by King in 1848) and the abolition of the post of viceroy. So it stopped to exist the Regnum Sardiniae and Cagliari, capital of a kingdom, will become provincial capital.

Another important event was the decree on the abolition of Piazzeforti, issued in 1866, which will determine the destruction of the walls of the Marina district, Stampace and Villanova, saving only those Castello. Cagliari will no longer be a fortified town. The walls and ramparts did not defend more the town. The bastion of Santa Caterina, since 1812, adorned with trees planted by forced, was used as a promenade. The same thing happens, from the end of the nineteenth century, the southern ramparts (thanks to the construction between 1899 and 1902, the bastion of Saint Remy) and Northern, the Arsenale militare turned into museums. At this time, it dates back the built of walking places and gardens: Buoncammino boulevard, Viale Regina Margherita, and the Public Gardens. In 1822, during Vice Carlo Felice was built the road that connects Cagliari to Sassari, the SS 131, renamed the Carlo Felice, in honor of the future sovereign.

The contemporary history

The history of the city after the unification of Italy meets the national history. Even Cagliari lived hard years during the fascism and in the Second World War was severely affected by the bombing of Allied. Tragic were the bombings of 17, 26 and 28 February and 13 May 1943 that destroyed much of the town and caused the death of many citizens. For his sacrifice the city received on 19 May 1950 the gold medal to military valor. Since 1948 Cagliari is the capital of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Article 2 of the Statute of SAR). In the last century has experienced an unstoppable development and has extended beyond the traditional boundaries of historic districts di Castello, Marina, Villanova and Stampace. Over thirty years of 1900 arose districts of St. Benedict, Bonaria and La Vega. After the Second World War, the town has reached the coast Poetto, has been eveloped around Monte Urpinu were born in the new districts Tuvumannu and San Michele. Currently, the population has reached 250 thousand inhabitants.