THE ORIGINS
The name Alghero most likely derives from the word Alga (Aleguerium), present in large quantities in the Gulf of Alghero, in fact a considerable amount of Posidonia Oceanica settles on its sandy coast during the winter.
Alghero Posidonia beached
Alghero was founded around the twelfth century by the Genoese Doria family, although we have numerous testimonies of settlements already from the ancient Neolithic, with finds of ceramic artefacts in the Green Scratch in Capocaccia and in the Nuragic age, with 88 the nuraghi and the Domus de Jana (the houses of the fairies).
Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju
I DORIA
The origin of the city of Alghero probably dates back to 1102, when the Doria family saw in the characteristics of the territory and in the presence of a large natural port, fundamental for the development of trade, the possibility of growth of a city of strong strategic importance. For about a century it remained under the control of the Doria, but in 1283 the Pisans managed to conquer it and kept it for about two years, but after the Pisan defeat in the battle of Meloria, the Doria returned to Alghero.
Alghero thus remained under the control of the Genoese maritime republic until 1350, when some descendants of the Doria sold their rights to Peter IV of Aragon, while the remaining descendants sold their rights to Genoa. From here a inevitable clash awant that soon led to a battle. On August 30, 1353 after the naval battle of Porto Conte, General Cabrera entered Alghero triumphantly. A few months later the Genoese managed to reconquer Alghero and then reclaim it definitively on November 16, 1354, with the deportation of the Ligurian Sardinian population and the settlement of the new Catalan-Aragonese settlers. From this moment begins the history of Catalan Alghero, a real Catalan centre in Sardinian land.
Map of Alghero of 1360
ALGHERO CATALAN TOWN IN SARDINIA
On June 24, 1355 the King of Aragon Peter IV the "Ceremony", granted AIghero the municipal coat of arms. It consisted of a shield divided in a horizontal direction in which were depicted, at the top, four poles of red in a gold field, a real sign known as "pali di Aragona" and at the bottom a branch of coral, the most precious resource of the sea of AIghero.
In that same year, due to a period of economic and food crisis the city was affected by commercial traffic that supplied it. In 1360 King Peter transferred a large Jewish community from Aragon. In 1372 a uprising was rejected which culminated in the expulsion of the last rebel inhabitants. Alghero, was never conquered by the judicial armies during the many decades of war. On the night of May 5 and 6, 1412 the last judge of Arborea William III of Narbonne attempted to conquer the city with a handful of men, but was rejected. In 1384 King Peter favoured the fishing of coral, begun a few decades earlier by the Marseillais, prohibiting its activity to forest boats that prohibited the landing along the coast between the Gulf of Oristano and the Asinara.
Coral fishing with the Cross of St. Andrew
In 1492, as in the other territories belonging to the Iberian crowns, the local Jewish community of which some archeological remains are still visible was expelled.
Jewish quarters - La juharia
From August 1495, King Ferdinand the Catholic, authorised the Algheron civic council to grant citizenship even to non-Catalans. This gave rise to a substantial migratory flow of Sardinians, Corsicans, Ligurians and Provençal. In 1541, Emperor Charles V came on a visit accompanied by Admiral Andrea Doria. The sovereign, who had made a stopover in the stronghold with 40 gales, during the expedition against Algiers, on that occasion granted the knighthood to three illustrious Algherian citizens who had joined in the enterprise. If it is not true that the emperor pronounced from a window of Palazzo D' Albis, facing the square the fateful phrase "estode todos caballeros", it is instead documented that, after visiting the stronghold from the outside, observing the majestic tower de l'Esperó Reial (Tower of Sulis), he exclaimed "bonita por mi fé y bien
Palazzo De Ferrara-Albis-De Arcayne
KINGDOM OF SARDINIA - SAVOIA
In 1652, Alghero was hit again by the plague, brought to the city by a Catalan ship. Some Algherians tried to save themselves by migrating to other areas of Sardinia, but obtained the effect of spreading pestilence throughout the territory, which hit Sardinia hard for four years. In the second half of the seventeenth century the Sardinian ethnic population represented about 70% of the total, the Ligurian one 20%, the Catalan one 7%. In 1708 with the peace of Utrecht Sardinia came under Austrian domination, but in the 1717 the Spaniards reoccupy Sardinia. Alghero falls after three days of siege. The following year with the Treaty of London, Sardinia was returned to Austria. In 1720 Austria ceded Sardinia to Savoy. The long four-term period of Spanish domination ends for Alghero. The city has about 4,500 inhabitants and will continue to the present day to maintain the Catalan language as well as numerous religious traditions. In the following years, numerous public works were carried out, including the strengthening of the walls and the promotion of olive cultivation and coral fishing.
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