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mon-fri
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 According to historians the origin of the town dates back to the first half
of the 11th century when the influential Doria family from Genova fortified a
fishing village along the north west coast of Sardinia. In this way a strategic
landing point was created. It was called "L'Alguerium" due to the
large quantities of seaweed washed up on the shores by the currents. This name
has been seen on documents of the Doria family and is medieval-Latin.
(S'Alighera in Sardinian and l'Alguer in Catalan). Thanks to its geographical
position Alghero held a very important role in trading in the Mediterranean,
therefore it had to be defended frequently by the Genovese from the attacks of Pisan and Aragonese ships. The town remained Genovese until 1353, when the
Catalan-Aragonese allied to the Venetians won against the Genovese admiral
Antonio Grimaldi at a naval battle just off Porto Conte, thus occupying the
stronghold. In November 1354 Pietro IV of Aragon, known as the
"Cerimonioso" or "Punyalet" repopulated Alghero with
Catalans forcing the Sardinians and the Ligurians to flee. At the same time the
town became part of the kingdom of Aragon and remained such for four centuries,
first under Catalan domination and then Spanish. Alghero to this day conserves
the characteristics of the Catalan-Aragonese period, which can be noted in the
architecture of the churches, of the buildings and of the fortifications and
also in the Catalan language which is still widely spoken. |
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