Urban developement - Roma 2010

Cagliari is a really old town  - one of the oldest

in the Mediterranean

sea ! Its origins date

back about 3000 years ago. It was so long time ago that still today its

origins are not very clear

and shrouded in mystery.

Many theories have been elaborated about its origins but those who mostly gained ground are three :

1) Cagliari was already inhabited since the neolithic age by Early Sardinian peoples!!

2) It was founded by the Phoenicians who liked having a port  in Sardinia , from which  they could easily penetrate the commercial trade  in the Mediterranean.

3) It was founded by the Carthaginians

The ancient name of Karalis or Caralis derives from the phoenician word “Kare-l” , which  literally means “ The City of God”  and in a wide sense “ Great town “ or “ Capital”.

Prehistoric phase (VII B.C.)

In prehistoric times the native inhabitants of Cagliari –the Sards - lived in tribal communities, quite separate from one another and located on the surrounding hills of our present town.

The Phoenician

period

A subsequent fundamental event was the arrival of Phoenician people who chose Sardinia as a port of call for their trade in the Mediterranean sea.

They reached Cagliari, and settled in the lagoon of Santa Gilla which offered them an easy access to the sea.

The Phoenician people did not try to take possession of the pre-existent urban settlement and lived separated from the native and local people.

•

The Carthaginian or Punic period. (VI B.C.)

In the second half of the VI

century B.C Carthaginians conquered the island, so Cagliari became famous in the Mediterranean area .

After the Punic invasion , the pre-historic settlements disappeared, the hills around were abandoned and the new town was shaped.

The flat area located between the hills and the sea was chosen and Santa Gilla was the most important site because it was the harbour and the commercial district.

When Carthaginians colonised the plains around the town (the Campidano), they transformed Sardinia in one of the largest granaries in the Mediterranean sea and

they started production of salt, too.

The new culture was absorbed by the local people so Cagliari came to be identified as a Punic town.

The Roman period (238 B.C.-455 A.D.) In 238 B.C. after the end of the first Punic war, the Romans

conquered Sardinia. The Roman rule lasted for about seven centuries and its occupation

was peaceful. In the years and centuries that followed, Cagliari increased its

importance. -it became the operation base against the rebels of the inner

territories. - it harboured a division of the military fleet in the Tyrrhenian . - in 48 B.C. it was appointed with the title of “Municipium Iulium”.

The Romans did not modify the original Punic settlement, but they enriched and enlarged the town.

Thanks to the peaceful nature and hospitality of the local people the Roman culture and religion, Christianity , were easily accepted and practiced.

The collapse of the western Roman Empire allowed a new population –The Vandals- to affirm themselves in the control of the Mediterranean sea. Their presence on the island is related to the African and Catholic Bishops who, unwilling to conform to Aryanism were exiled in Sardinia.

Vandals’ Kingdom

The Vandalic rule of the island came to an end

with the arrival of the Byzantines. The Byzantine phase-though quite short-

was not a prosperous period for the town of Cagliari.

Their corrupted leaders and the high taxation were

responsible for a rapid decay, loss of economic

power of Cagliari, which at the same time , had to suffer for frequent raids carried out

by Saracens.

Around the X century after the Byzantine had abandoned the island and due to repeated incursions and plunders of the Saracens, Sardinia felt the need to organize its defence autonomously. A new form of self-government started to appear: the “Giudicato”, so called because at the top of this self-government there was a “Judge”, Sardinia was divided in four sectors called “Giudicati”. They were Cagliari, Arborea, Torres and Gallura.

During the period of the Saracens’ raids, Cagliari, which had almost been reduced to the village of Santa Gilla, suffered a period of great depopulation, loss of economic power, but it regained popularity under the “Giudical” phase thanks to the help of the two naval cities power of Genoa and Pisa, that both wanted the supremacy on the island. After alternate disputes, the “Giudicato” of Cagliari returned under Pisan influence with Guglielmo of Massa in 1187.

In 1215, the Pisans built a fortified town (the present Castello).

The new city, surrounded by towers and walls, was completed in 1216; it had to control the old “Giudical’’ territory.

Only the Pisan community could to live inside this fortified area; all the other inhabitants of Cagliari could enter here only during the day to work.

In 1258 the Pisans rejected a Genoese attempt to conquer the “Giudicato of Cagliari”, but in the battle of Santa Gilla it was destroyed.

Since then the “Giudicato” became a Pisan dominion and the “Castellum Castri” the centre of the town.

The Pisan Period “Castello” was organized as a city-

state, and administered by Pisan governors.

Inside the city two new boroughs were founded by locals: “Stampace” in the west, and “Villanova” in the east.

Stampace was quite crowded and had some important churches like Sant’Anna, Santa Margherita, San Giorgio, Sant’Efisio and Santa Restituta.

Another important district was the pre-existent area in front of the harbour called “Lapola” or “Marina”.

The Pisan rule in Cagliari ended when they were defeated by the Aragones, ((which lost most of its power among the maritime republics.))

Before leaving the town forever the Pisans built further fortifications in Castello: the Tower of San Pancrazio, the Elephant and the Eagle’ s tower.

A hundred year had not passed, when another domination came: the Aragonese, who with the help of the Pope, conquered Sardinia. They besieged Cagliari and built their stronghold on another hill , the “colle di Bonaria”. However, they did not destroy the enemy city, as the Pisans did with Santa Gilla, but, they allowed the Pisans for while staying in their feud of Castello until the Pisans were force to abandon forever the city and the island. From that moment the Aragonese dominitation started.

The Aragonese period Pietro IV of Aragona , in order to keep peace on the Island granted

Sardinia of self government and summoned the first Sardinian Parliament called “Stamenti”.

Members of this parliament were the three social classes of the clergy (stamento ecclesiastico), the nobles and the land owners (stamento militare) and the rappresentative of the town and villas (stamento reale).

The codes and the regulations active in Barcelona were granted and applied in Cagliari. The economy of Cagliari was guaranteed by the florishing trade port of the island. In this period, the town regained the role of "capital" of the island. The Aragonese built further fortifications

Unfortunately in those years Cagliari suffered a great unrest because of the plague, the fire, and the attack carried by the Giudici di Arborea.Cagliari almost without realizing it had become a Spanish city.

The Spanish period In 1479 , Ferdinand II of

Aragon became the king of Spain, so even Sardinia became part of the Spanish Kingdom .

The harbor of the city acquired great importance for its strategic and economic position. From the XVII century in the city the culture awakened thanks to the birth of the universities and the foundation of the first printing shop of Nicolò Cannelles. All this contributed to an initial detachment from Spain.

In the XVIII century a rivalry between Spanish nobility and local nobility caused a decrease of Spanish power on Cagliari.

In 1718, after a brief rule of the

Austrian Habsburgs, Cagliari and Sardinia came under the House of Savoy and included in the Piedmont kingdom, which from that moment took the name of

Sardinian-Piedmont kingdom. By the end of the 18th century France tried to conquer Cagliari; in fact a French army reached to the harbour and moved towards the city. The proud Sardinians defeated the French and hoped to receive some rewards in return for their defending the town,

…but the Savoys refused any concession, therefore the inhabitants rose up, strongly fought against them and expelled all representatives of the Kingdom.

This insurgence is celebrated in Cagliari during the "Die de sa Sardigna" (Sardinian Day) every 28 of April.

From the 1870s, after the unification of Italy, the city experienced a century of rapid growth. Many outstanding buildings were erected by the end of the 19th century during the office of Mayor Ottone Bacaredda buildings combined influences from Art Nouveau together with the traditional Sardinian taste for flower decoration: an example is the white marble City Hall near the port. Ottone Bacaredda is also famous for the violent repression of one of the earlier worker strikes in the beginning of the 20th century.

During World War II Cagliari was heavily bombed by the Allies in February 1943. In order to escape from the bombardments and the misery of the destroyed town, many people left Cagliari and moved to the country or rural villages. This flight from the town is known as "sfollamento" (deserting).

After the Italian armistice with the Allies in September 1943, the German Army took control of Cagliari and the island, but soon retreated peacefully in order to reinforce their positions in mainland Italy. The American Army then took control of Cagliari, thanks to its strategically position; in fact many airports were near the town (Elmas, Monserrato, Decimomannu, currently a NATO airbase)

After the war, inhabitants of Cagliari rebounded and the city developed around the historical districts of Castello, Villanova, Stampace and Marina.

Stampace

Castello

Villanova

Marina

Historical districts receive the highest proportion of foreigners in Cagliari.

Castello is becoming again a lovely area.

Inside it are focused the productive

activities of the city.

Stampace is the very heart of

Cagliari, because built in the west of Castello, and from its expansion the modern suburbs

developed.

In ancient times the district of Villanova, situated in the east of Castello, was inhabited

by peasants who worked in the vast fields around the district.

Today in Marina the majority of the population is composed of migrants (exactly the 6,2%).

MULINU BECCIU

TUVIXEDDU

SANT’ALENIXEDDA

FONSARDA

GENNERUXI

LA PALMAQUARTIERE DEL SOLE

SAN BARTOLOMEOMONTE MIXI

BORGO SANT’ELIA

POETTO

CEP

BONARIA

LA VEGA

And this is an update map of Cagliari

The 15% of the population lives into is Mirrionis and Sant’Alenixedda districts, and it is mostly composed of children under five years old.

The most important building in Sant’Alenixedda is the Opera House, opened in 1993. It was erected to replace the ancient Civic Theatre, destroyed during the World

War II.

The districts where the highest number of people live are:

Cep, peripheral area, where few foreigners live.

Borgo Sant’Elia, area with an high number of unemployed.

In Sant’Elia district you can see the famous Cagliari’s stadium (1970). It originally

housed 60.000 people, but today it is going under reconstruction.

This bank, designed by Renzo Piano, is now located in Bonaria district and it is the main point of reference for

productive investments in Sardinia.