Though Sassari was founded in the early Middle Ages, the region where is raised, has been inhabited since the Neolithic age, and during the ancient history, by the Nuragics, Phoenicians and Romans.
Many archaeological sites and ancient ruins are located inside or around the town, as the prehistoric step pyramid of Monte D'Accoddi, a large number of Nuraghes and Domus de Janas (House of the Fairies), the ruins of a Roman aqueduct, the ruins of a roman villa discovered in the San Nicholas Cathedral's undergrounds, a portion of the ancient road that connected the Latin colony of Turrys Lybissonis with Caralis.
Inside the boundaries of municipality is also found a fossil site where was uncovered an Oreopithecus bambolii, a prehistoric anthropomorphic primate, dated 8,5 millions years.
The town was founded around the 9th-10th century AD by the inhabitants of the ancient Roman port of Turris Lybisonis (current Porto Torres), who sought refuge in the mainland to escape the Saracen attacks from the sea.
It developed from the merger of a number of separate villages, such as San Pietro di Silki, San Giacomo di Taniga, San Giovanni di Bosove. The oldest mention of a village called Tathari is in an 1113 document in the archive of the Monastery of St. Peter in Silki. Sassari was sacked by the Genoese in 1166. Immigration continued until, in the early 13th century, it was the most populous city in the giudicato of Torres, and its last capital. After the assassination of the latter's last judge (1274), Sassari was subject to the Republic of Pisa with a semi-independent status.
In 1284 the Pisans were annihilated by the Genoese fleet at the Battle of Meloria, and the city could free itself: it became the first and only free commune of Sardinia, with statutes of its own, allied with Genoa, which was pleased to see it thus withdrawn from the control of the Pisans. Its statutes of 1316 are remarkable for the leniency of the penalties imposed when compared with the penal laws of the Middle Ages.
From 1323 it was submitted to the Aragonese, under which it remained in the following centuries, but it revolted at least three times. The revolts ceased when the king Alfonso V of Aragon promoted the town as Città Regia (Royal Town), a town directly ruled by the King and free from feudal taxations. Attempts of conquest by Genoa failed. In 1391 it was conquered by Brancaleone Doria and Marianus V of Arborea to the Giudicato of Arborea, of which it became the capital, but in 1420 it fell into the hands of the Aragonese, replaced by the Spaniards in 1479.
In 1527 it was sacked by the French. During Catalan and then Spanish domination the city was known as Sàsser in catalan language and Saçer in Spanish.
The city alternated years of crisis, featuring economic exploitation, the decrease of the maritime trade, made unsafe by the daily raids of Saracens pirates, political corruption of its rulers and two plagues in 1528 and 1652, with periods of cultural and economic prosperity. The Jesuits founded in Sassari the first Sardinian university in 1562; in the same years was introduced the first printing system and the Renaissance humanism movement spread. Several artists of the Mannerist and Flemish schools operated in town.
Austrian rule (1708–1717) was succeeded by Piedmontese (1720–1861), after which Sassari became part of the newly created Kingdom of Italy. On 28 December 1795 an anti-feudal revolt broke out in the town, led by Giovanni Maria Angioy, a Sardinian politician and patriot, who fought against the house of Savoy. The city was occupied by troops.
At the end of 18th century the University was restored. In 1836, after six centuries, the medieval walls were partially demolished, allowing the town to expand. New urban plans were realised, on the model of the new regime's capital (Turin), with geometric streets and squares. Sassari became an important industrial center, in the 19th century it was the second most important Italian town for the production of leather, and in 1848 the sassarese entrepreneur Giovanni Antonio Sanna, gained control of Montevecchio's mine, becoming the third richest man in the Kingdom. The first railway was opened in 1872.
In 1877 the ancient Aragonese Castle was demolished, and on the site the "Caserma La Marmora" was built, where the headquarters of "Brigata Sassari" is still located. Founded in 1915, it is the first and only Italian military unit consisting exclusively of Sardinian soldiers.
At the end of the XIX century new urban developments were built, on the hill of Cappuccini and on the south side of the town, architecturally dominated by Eclecticism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, which created a movement towards the hybrid experimentation of new local architectural styles, known as the Sassarese Liberty.
During the Fascist dictatorship the town surpassed fifty thousand inhabitants, new neighbourhoods were built, the most important are those of Monte Rosello and Porcellana, typical examples of Rationalist Architecture. The newspaper La Nuova Sardegna, considered subversive, was closed.
During the Second World War three Allied attempts to bomb the town failed: only the railway station was damaged, and there was only one casualty
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University Palace (17th-20th century), originally a Jesuit school.
