Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitants, while its metropolitan city (including Cagliari and 16 other nearby municipalities) has more than 431,000 inhabitants. According to

Eurostat Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statis ...

, the population of the Functional urban area, the commuting zone of Cagliari, rises to 476,975. Cagliari is the 26th largest city in Italy and the largest city on the island of Sardinia. An ancient city with a long history, Cagliari has seen the rule of several civilisations. Under the buildings of the modern city there is a continuous stratification attesting to human settlement over the course of some five thousand years, from the Neolithic to today. Historical sites include the prehistoric Domus de Janas, very damaged by cave activity, a large Carthaginian era

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

, a Roman era amphitheatre, a Byzantine basilica, three Pisan-era towers and a strong system of fortification that made the town the core of Spanish Habsburg imperial power in the western Mediterranean Sea. Its natural resources have always been its sheltered harbour, the often powerfully fortified hill of ''Castel di Castro'', the modern ''Casteddu'', the salt from its lagoons, and, from the hinterland, wheat from the Campidano plain and silver and other ores from the

Iglesiente The Iglesiente is a traditional and geographical subdivision of Sardinia, Italy. It encompasses the northern province of Carbonia-Iglesias and the south-western one of the province of Medio Campidano, and its main center is Iglesias. Languages ...

mines. Cagliari was the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1324 to 1848, when Turin became the formal capital of the kingdom (which in 1861 became the Kingdom of Italy). Today the city is a regional cultural, educational, political and artistic centre, known for its diverse

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

architecture and several monuments. It is also Sardinia's economic and industrial hub, having one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean Sea, an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

, and the 106th highest income level in Italy (among 8,092 comuni), comparable to that of several northern Italian cities. It is also the seat of the

University of Cagliari The University of Cagliari ( it, Università degli Studi di Cagliari) is a university in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It was founded in 1606 and is organized in 11 faculties. History The ''Studium Generalis Kalaritanum'' was founded in 1606 alon ...

, founded in 1607, and of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagliari The Archdiocese of Cagliari ( la, Archidioecesis Calaritana) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese centred on the city of Cagliari. It holds the Primacy of Sardinia.

Early history

The Cagliari area has been inhabited since the Neolithic. It occupies a favourable position between the sea and a fertile plain and is surrounded by two marshes (which provides defence against attacks from the inland). There are high mountains nearby, to which people could evacuate if the settlement had to be given up. Relics of prehistoric inhabitants were found in the hill of Monte Claro (

Monte Claro culture The Monte Claro culture was a Chalcolithic culture that spread throughout the island of Sardinia around the second half of the 3rd millennium BC (2400-2100 BC). It takes its name from a hill located in the city of Cagliari, where important discover ...

) and in

Cape Sant'Elia A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. The ...

(several domus de janas). PUNIC ERA INSCRIPTION

Karaly ( xpu, 𐤊𐤓𐤋𐤉, ) was established around the 8th/7th century BC as one of a string of Phoenician colonies in Sardinia, including Tharros. The etymology of the toponym is unknown. It almost certainly does not come from the Phoenician language, but it has some similarities with other Sardinian or Asia Minor toponyms. Its founding is linked to its position along communication routes with Africa as well as to its excellent port. The Phoenician settlement was located in the

Stagno di Santa Gilla The Stagno di Santa Gilla, or Stagno di Cagliari (literally ‘Pool of Cagliari’), is a coastal lagoon at the mouths of the rivers Cixerri and Mannu near Cagliari, on the Golfo degli Angeli in southern Sardinia, Italy. It has been designated ...

, west of the present centre of Cagliari. This was also the site of the Roman ''Portus Scipio'', and when Arab pirates raided the area in the 8th century it became the refuge for people fleeing from the city. Other Phoenician settlements have been found at Cape Sant'Elia. In the late 6th century BC Carthage took control of part of Sardinia, and Cagliari grew substantially under their domination, as testified by the large

Tuvixeddu necropolis The necropolis of Tuvixeddu () is a Punic necropolis, the largest in the Mediterranean. It is located in a hill inside the city of Cagliari, Sardinia called Tuvixeddu (meaning "little cavity" in Sardinian). History Between the 6th and 3rd cent ...

and other remains. Cagliari was a fortified settlement in what is now the modern Marina quarter, with an annexed holy area in the modern Stampace. Sardinia and Cagliari came under Roman rule in 238 BC, shortly after the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...

, when the Romans defeated the Carthaginians. No mention of it is found on the occasion of the Roman conquest of the island but, during the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

, Caralis was the headquarters of the praetor, Titus Manlius Torquatus, whence he conducted his operations against

Hampsicora Hampsicora (3rd century BC - Cornus, 215 BC) was a Sardo-Punic political leader and landowner of Sardinia, and the leader of the major anti-Roman revolt () in the province of 215 BC. The sources describe Hampsicora as the richest among the land ...

and the Carthaginians. At other times it was also the Romans' chief naval station on the island and the residence of its praetor. The Romans built a new settlement east of the old Punic city, the ''vicus munitus Caralis'' (i.e. the fortified community of Caralis) mentioned by Varro Atacinus. The two urban agglomerations merged gradually during the second century BC; to this process is perhaps attributable the plural name Carales. Florus calls it the ''urbs urbium'' or capital of Sardinia. He represents it as taken and severely punished by

Gracchus The Gracchi brothers were two Roman brothers, sons of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who was consul in 177 BC. Tiberius, the elder brother, was tribune of the plebs in 133 BC and Gaius, the younger brother, was tribune a decade later in ...

, but this statement is wholly at variance with Livy's account of the wars of Gracchus, in Sardinia, according to which the cities were faithful to Rome, and the revolt was confined to the mountain tribes. In the Civil War between

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

and Pompey, the citizens of Caralis were the first to declare in favor of the former, an example soon followed by the other cities of Sardinia; and Caesar himself touched there with his fleet on his return from Africa. A few years later, when Sardinia fell into the hands of Menas, the lieutenant of Sextus Pompeius, Caralis was the only city which offered any resistance, but was taken after a short siege. Cagliari continued to be regarded as the capital of the island under the Roman Empire, and though it did not become a colony, obtained the status of '' municipium''. Remains of Roman public buildings were found to the west of Marina in Piazza del Carmine. There was an area of ordinary housing near the modern Via Roma, and richer houses on the slopes of the Marina distinct. The amphitheatre is located to the west of the Castello. A

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

community is attested in Cagliari at least as early as the 3rd century, and by the end of that century the city had a Christian bishop. In the middle decades of the 4th century bishop Lucifer of Cagliari was exiled because of his opposition to the sentence against

Athanasius of Alexandria Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...

at the Synod of Milan. He was banished to the desert of

Thebais The Thebaid or Thebais ( grc-gre, Θηβαΐς, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximity to ...

by the emperor Constantius II.

Claudian Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (; c. 370 – c. 404 AD), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost ent ...

describes the ancient city of Karalis as extending to a considerable length towards the promontory or headland, the projection of which sheltered its port. The port affords good anchorage for large vessels, but besides this, which is only a well-sheltered standby, there is a large salt-water lake or lagoon, called the Stagno di Cagliari, adjoining the city and communicating by a narrow channel with the bay, which appears from Claudian to have been used in ancient times as an inner harbor or basin. The promontory adjoining the city is evidently that noticed by Ptolemy (), but the Caralitanum Promontorium of Pliny can be no other than the headland, now called

Capo Carbonara Cape Carbonara (Italian: ''Capo Carbonara'', Sardinian: ''Cabo Crabonaxa'') is a promontory on the southeastern tip of Sardinia, Italy, which forms the eastern end of the Gulf of Cagliari. Together with the nearby Cavoli Island and Serpentara Isla ...

, which forms the eastern boundary of the

Gulf of Cagliari "Sella del Diavolo" (Devil's saddle) promontory seen from the Poetto beach near Cagliari. The Golfo di Cagliari ( en, Gulf of Cagliari, sc, Golfu de Casteddu), also known as Golfo degli Angeli ( en, Gulf of the Angels) is a large bay in souther ...

and the southeast point of the whole island. Immediately off it lay the little island of Ficaria, now called the ''Isola dei Cavoli'' ("Cabbage Island" in Italian, ''Isula de is Càvurus'' "Crab Island" in Sardinian). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire Cagliari fell, together with the rest of Sardinia, into the hands of the Vandals, but appears to have retained its importance throughout the Middle Ages. SanpietroCA

Judicate of Cagliari

Pluteo di età mediobizantina con grifo e pegaso

Subsequently, ruled by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and then part of the Byzantine Empire, Cagliari became the capital of a gradually independent Judicate, (from Latin Iudex, Governor and Supreme Magistrate, used in late Roman and Byzantine period, along with the medieval Greek ἄρχων). This state was born around 1020 and was overthrown by the Republic of Pisa in 1258. Due to the overlap of buildings since the year 800 B.C., and the scarcity of archeological and historical informations, it was believed that the population was moved to more inland areas of the territory, along the lagoon, in a city called Santa Ilia or Santa Igia (modern San Gilla) and it was believed that the ancient Roman and Byzantine city had been abandoned because it was too exposed to attacks by

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

pirates coming from north Africa and Spain. Recent studies have instead hypothesized that the capital of the Giudicato was located around the road that it directed towards

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

, today called Corso Vittorio Emanuele II (in Sardinian language: Su Brugu, the borough), although there are not yet archeological confirmations, particularly of the Cathedral and the Judex Palace, destroyed after the Pisan conquest. The Judicate of Cagliari comprised a large area of the Campidano plain, the

Sulcis Sulcis (''Maurreddia'' or ''Meurreddia'' in Sardinian language) is a subregion of Sardinia, Italy, in the Province of South Sardinia. Geographical extension Its municipalities are: Calasetta, Carbonia, Carloforte, Giba, Gonnesa, Masainas, Narc ...

and the mountain region of

Ogliastra The province of Ogliastra ( it, provincia dell'Ogliastra , sc, provìntzia de s'Ogiastra) was a former province in eastern Sardinia, Italy. Ogliastra was the most mountainous province in Sardinia. With only some 57,642 inhabitants, it was also t ...

11th to 13th century

During the 11th century, the Republic of Pisa began to extend its political influence over the Judgedom of Cagliari. Pisa and the maritime republic of Genoa had a keen interest in Sardinia because it was a perfect strategic base for controlling the commercial routes between Italy and North Africa. In 1215 the Pisan Lamberto Visconti, husband of Elena of Gallura, forced the judikessa Benedetta of Cagliari to give him the mount located east of Santa Igia. Soon (1216–17) Pisan merchants established there a new fortified city, known as ''Castel di Castro'', which can be considered the ancestor of the modern city of Cagliari. In 1258, after the defeat of

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

, the last king of Cagliari, the Pisans and their Sardinian allies (

Arborea Arborea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, whose economy is largely based on agriculture and cattle breeding with production of vegetables, rice, fruit and milk (notably the local milk product Arborea). Histo ...

, Gallura and Logudoro) destroyed the old capital of Santa Igia. The Judgedom of Cagliari was then divided into three parts: the northeast third went to Gallura; the central portion was incorporated into Arborea;

and

, on the southwest, were given to the Pisan

della Gherardesca The House della Gherardesca was an old noble family of the Republic of Pisa, dating back as early as the 11th century of Longobard origin. They were an important one of the most prominent initially in Pisa, then of Volterra and eventually and of F ...

family, while the Republic of Pisa maintained control over its colony of Castel di Castro. Some of the fortifications that still surround the current district of Castello were built by the Pisans, including the two remaining white limestone towers (early 14th century) designed by the architect

Giovanni Capula Giovanni Capula was an architect of likely Sardinian origin of the 13th–14th century. Biography Little is known about him, the inscriptions of the Tower of San Pancrazio and the Tower of the Elephant of Cagliari, where he's defined ''Architec ...

. Together with the district of Castello, Castel di Castro comprised the districts of

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

(which included the port), and later and Villanova. Marina and Stampace were guarded by walls, in contrast to Villanova, which was mostly home to peasants.

14th to 17th centuries

In the second decade of the 14th century the Crown of Aragon conquered Sardinia after a series of battles against the

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

ns. During the siege of Castel di Castro (1324-1326), the Aragonese, led by Alfonso IV of Aragon, built a stronghold on a more southern hill, that of Bonaria. Braun_hogenberg_Cagliari_1572

When the fortified city was finally conquered by the Aragonese army, Castel di Castro (''Castel de Càller'' or simply Càller in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

) became the administrative capital of the newborn Kingdom of Sardinia, one of the many kingdoms forming the Crown of Aragon, which later came under the rule of the Spanish Empire. After the expulsion of the Tuscans, the Castello district was repopulated by the Aragonese settlers of Bonaria while the indigenous population was, as in the past, concentrated in Stampace and Villanova. The

kings of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in ...

and later the

kings of Spain This is a list of Spanish monarchs, that is, rulers of the country of Spain. The forerunners of the monarchs of the Spanish throne were the following: *Kings of the Visigoths * Kings of Asturias * Kings of Navarre *Kings of León *Kings of Gal ...

, were represented in Cagliari by a viceroy, who resided in the

Palazzo Regio The Palazzo Regio (''Royal palace''), also known as Viceregio (''Viceroyal palace''), is a historic building in Cagliari, the ancient residence of the representative of the king of Sardinia during the Aragonese, Spanish and Savoy domination and ...

In the 16th century the fortifications of the city were strengthened with the construction of the

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

s and the rights and benefits of the Aragonese were extended to all citizens. The intellectual life was relatively lively and in the early years of the 17th century the university was founded.

18th century

In 1718, after a brief rule by the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

, Cagliari and Sardinia came under the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

. As rulers of Sardinia, the Savoys took the title of kings of the Sardinian kingdom. During the Savoyard Era, until 1848, the institutions of the Sardinian kingdom remained unchanged, but with the "

Perfect Fusion The Perfect Fusion ( it, Fusione perfetta) was the 1847 act of the Savoyard king Charles Albert of Sardinia which abolished the administrative differences between the mainland states ( Savoy and Piedmont) and the island of Sardinia, in a fashion ...

" in that year, all the possessions of the House of Savoy House, comprising

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

, Nice (now part of France), Piedmont and from 1815 Liguria, were merged into a unitary state. Although Sardinian by name, the kingdom had its parliament in Turin, where the Savoys resided, and its members were mainly aristocrats from Piedmont or the mainland. In the late 18th century during the French Revolutionary Wars France tried to conquer Cagliari because of its strategic role in the Mediterranean sea (''

Expédition de Sardaigne The French expedition to Sardinia was a short military campaign fought in 1793 in the Mediterranean Sea in the first year of the War of the First Coalition, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The operation was the first offensive by the new ...

''). A French army landed on Poetto beach and advanced towards Cagliari, but the French were defeated by Sardinians who had decided to defend themselves against the revolutionary army. The people of Cagliari hoped to receive some concession from the Savoys in return for their defence of the town. For example, aristocrats from Cagliari asked for a Sardinian representative in the parliament of the kingdom. When the Savoyards refused any concession to the Sardinians, the inhabitants of Cagliari rose up against them and expelled all the representatives of the kingdom along with the Piedmontese rulers. This insurgence is celebrated in Cagliari during ''

Sa die de sa Sardigna Sardinia's Day ( sc, sa die de sa Sardigna ; sdc, la dì di la Sardigna; sdn, la dì di la Saldigna; ca, label= Algherese, lo dia de la Sardenya; it, il giorno della Sardegna), also known as Sardinian people's Day ( it, Giornata del popolo sa ...

'' ("The day of Sardinia") on the last weekend of April. However, the Savoys regained control of the town after a brief period of autonomous rule.

Modern age

The population by the 1840s had reached 29,000. Starting in the 1870s, in the wake of the unification of Italy, the city experienced a century of rapid growth. Many buildings were erected by the end of the 19th century during the term of office of mayor

Ottone Bacaredda ''Ottone, re di Germania'' ("Otto, King of Germany", HWV 15) is an opera by George Frideric Handel, to an Italian–language libretto adapted by Nicola Francesco Haym from the libretto by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino for Antonio Lotti's opera ' ...

. Numerous buildings combined influences from

together with the traditional Sardinian taste for floral decoration; an example is the white marble

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

near the port. Bacaredda is also known for his strong repression of one of the earliest worker strikes at the beginning of the 20th century. During the Second World War Cagliari was heavily bombed by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in February 1943. In order to escape from the danger of bombardments and difficult living conditions, many people were evacuated from the city into the countryside. In total the victims of the bombings were more than 2000 and about 80% of the buildings were damaged. The city received the Gold Medal of Military Valour. After the Italian armistice with the Allies in September 1943, the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

took control of Cagliari and the island, but soon retreated peacefully in order to reinforce their positions in mainland Italy. The

American Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

then took control of Cagliari. Airports near the city (

Elmas Elmas, Su Masu in Sardinian language, is a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about northwest of Cagliari. Until 1989 Elmas was a district of Cagliari. It is best known ...

Monserrato Monserrato (''Pauli'' or ''Paulli'' in Sardinian language) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy, located about northeast of Cagliari. Monserrato borders the following municipalities: Cag ...

Decimomannu Decimomannu ( sc, Deximumannu or ) is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It is located about northwest of central Cagliari and had a population of about 8,115 . Geography Decimomannu borders the municipalities of ...

, currently a NATO airbase) were used by Allied aircraft to fly to North Africa or mainland Italy and Sicily. After the war, the population of Cagliari grew again and many apartment blocks and recreational areas were erected in new residential districts.

Coats of Arms of Cagliari

File:Stemma di Cagliari pisana.jpg, 13th century File:STEMMA DI CAGLIARI NELLA CORONA D'ARAGONA dal gonfalone dell'università, 1606.jpg, From the 14th to 17th century File:Cagliari-Stemma sabaudo da L'archivio comunale di Cagliari.png, From the 18th century to the present

Geography

The city of Cagliari is situated in the south of Sardinia, overlooking the centre of the eponymous gulf, also called

Golfo degli Angeli "Sella del Diavolo" (Devil's saddle) promontory seen from the Poetto beach near Cagliari. The Golfo di Cagliari ( en, Gulf of Cagliari, sc, Golfu de Casteddu), also known as Golfo degli Angeli ( en, Gulf of the Angels) is a large bay in souther ...

("Bay of Angels") after an ancient legend. The city is spread over and around the hill of the historic district of Castello and nine other limestone hills of the middle-to-late Miocene, unique heights of a little more than

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

on the long plains of Campidano. The plain is actually a

Graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...

formed during the Alpine orogeny of the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

, which separated Sardinia from the European continent, roughly where the Gulf of Lion is now. The Graben filled in the course of tectonic movements associated with the breakup of the ancient island Paleozoic skeleton. Castello_San_Michele_(CA)

The repeated intrusion of the sea left calcareous sediments that formed a series of hills that mark the territory of Cagliari. Castello is where the fortified town arose in the

Middle Age In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

near the harbour of the port, other hills are those of Mount Urpinu, the St. Elias hill, also known as the ''Sella del Diavolo'' ("Saddle of the Devil") for its shape, Tuvumannu and Tuvixeddu, the site of the ancient Punic and Roman necropolis, the small Bonaria hill, where the basilica stands, and the San Michele hill, with the eponymous castle on top. The modern city occupies the flat spaces between the hills and the sea to the south and southeast, along the Poetto beach, the lagoons and ponds of Santa Gilla and Molentargius, and the remains of more recent marine intrusions, in an articulate landscape with many landmarks and panoramas of the bay, the plain, and the mountains that surround it on the east (The Seven Brothers and Serpeddì) and west (the mountains of

Capoterra Capoterra ( sc, Cabuderra; ; from Latin ''Caput Terrae'', "head of the Earth") is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. At 2011 national census it had 24,017 inhabitants and is part of the Cagliari metropol ...

). On the cold, clear days of winter, the snowy peaks of

Gennargentu Gennargentu (; sc, Ghennarghentu ) is a large massif in central-southern Sardinia, Italy, encompassing the provinces of Nuoro and Ogliastra. It includes the highest peaks on the island, such as Punta La Marmora (), Monte Spada (), Punta Erba ...

can be seen from the highest points of the city. Cagliari

The city has four historic neighbourhoods: Castello, Marina, Stampace and Villanova and several modern districts (such as San Benedetto, Monte Urpinu and Genneruxi at the east, Sant'Avendrace at the west, Is Mirrionis/San Michele at north and Bonaria, La Palma and Poetto at the south), grown when part of the ancient walls had been demolished in the middle of the 19th century.

Pirri

The comune of Cagliari has one circoscrizione, the town of Pirri (about 30.000 inhabitants), former village of the Campidano absorbed in the fast growth after the Second World War.

Parks and recreation

Cagliari is one of the "greenest" Italian cities. Every inhabitant of Cagliari has access to of public gardens and parks. Its mild climate allows the growth of numerous subtropical plants, such as '' Jacaranda mimosifolia'', '' Ficus macrophylla'', with some huge specimens in Via Roma and in the University Botanic Gardens, ''

Erythrina caffra ''Erythrina caffra'', the coast coral tree or African coral tree, is a tree native to southeastern Africa, which is often cultivated and has introduced populations in California and India. All the 17 species of coral tree in the genus ''Erythri ...

'' with its stunning red flowers, ''

Ficus retusa ''Ficus retusa'' is a species of evergreen woody plant in the fig genus, native to the Malay Archipelago and Malesia floristic region. The species name has been widely mis-applied to ''Ficus microcarpa''. Description ''Ficus retusa'' is a rapidl ...

'', which provides shade for several of the city's streets, '' Araucaria heterophylla'', the date palm ('' Phoenix dactylifera''), the Canary Islands palm (''

Phoenix canariensis ''Phoenix canariensis'', the Canary Island date palm or pineapple palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. It is a relative of ''Phoenix dactylifera'', the true dat ...

'') and the Mexican Fan Palm (''

Washingtonia robusta ''Washingtonia robusta'', known by common name as the Mexican fan palm, Mexican washingtonia, or skyduster is a palm tree native to the Baja California peninsula and a small part of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. Despite its limited native dist ...

''). Major city parks include: Monte_Urpinu_Cagliari

* Monte Urpinu Park, the most wooded, is a low hill covered by a pine ('' Pinus halepensis Mill.'') and evergreen oak ('' Quercus ilex L.'') forest with a dense Mediterranean maquis of mastic ('' Pistacia lentiscus L.''), juniper ('' Juniperus phoenicea L.''), Kermes oak ('' Quercus coccifera L.''), wild olive ('' Olea europaea L. ssp. europaea, var. sylvestris'') and tree spurge ('' Euphorbia dendroides L.''). It extends for about . * Park of San Michele hill (about 25 hectares), with its medieval castle on the top; * Terramaini Park, about , with a little pond which is home to flamingos and other wading birds; * Monte Claro Provincial Park, about , which hosts the provincial library in an old mansion on the top of the hill; * Ex-vetreria Pirri Park, about ; * Public gardens, the oldest public esplanade of the city, planted in the 19th century, with a wonderful promenade of '' Jacaranda mimosifolia D.Don''. The

Molentargius - Saline Regional Park 250px, View towards the Molentargius salt mills. Molentargius - Saline Regional Park (Italian: ''Parco naturale regionale Molentargius - Saline'') is a regional park in Sardinia, Italy. It was established in 1999 with the aim to protect and enh ...

is located near the city. Some mountain parks, such as Monte Arcosu or Maidopis, with large forests and wildlife (Sardinian deer, wild boars, etc.) are also nearby. Poetto spiaggia

Beaches

The main beach of Cagliari is the Poetto. It stretches for about , from Sella del Diavolo ("Devil's Saddle") up to the coastline of Quartu Sant'Elena. Poetto is also the name of the district located on the western stretch of the strip between the beach and Saline di Molentargius ("Molentargius's Salt Mine"). Another smaller beach is that of Calamosca near the Sant'Elia district. On the coast between Calamosca and Poetto beaches, among the cliffs of the Sella del Diavolo, lies Cala Fighera, a small bay. Cagliari is close to other seaside locations such as Santa Margherita di Pula, Chia, Geremeas,

Solanas Solanas is a small village administrated by Sinnai, in the province of Cagliari. Position Solanas is located in the south coast of Sardinia at ~36 km east from Cagliari, and at ~16 km west from Villasimius. It is administrated by Sinn ...

Villasimius Villasimius (; sro, Crabonaxa ), is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about east of Cagliari. History Due to its strategically important site, Villasimius' territory was inh ...

and

Costa Rei Costa Rei is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Muravera in southern Sardinia. It features a 12 km long beach. Economy Costa Rei is a popular destination for tourists, most of which are from Germany Germany,, officially the Fe ...

Climate

Cagliari has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen: ''Csa''), with hot, dry summers and mild winters like other historical regions along the coast. Its precipitation values also bring it closer to semi-arid conditions. The summer extreme values can be slightly over , sometimes with very high humidity, while in winter, under special and rare conditions, the temperature drops slightly below zero. Heavy snowfalls occur on average every thirty years. The average temperature of the coldest month, January, is about , and of the warmest month, August, about . But heat waves can occur, due to African anticyclone, starting in June. From mid-June to mid-September, rain is a rare event, limited to brief afternoon storms. The rainy season starts in September, and the first cold days come in December. Winds are frequent, especially the mistral and sirocco; in summer a marine sirocco breeze (called ''s'imbattu'' in

Sardinian language Sardinian or Sard ( , or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken by the Sardinians on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Many Romance linguists consider it the language that is closest to Latin among all its genealogica ...

) lowers the temperature and brings some relief from the heat.

Demographics

According to ISTAT, in 2014 there were 154,356 people residing in Cagliari (+3.0% compared with 2011), of whom 71,522 were male and 82,834 female for a sex ratio of 0.86. Minors (children aged 18 and younger) totaled 12.92% of the population, compared to pensioners at 24.81%. The average age of Cagliari residents is 47.44. The ratio of the population over 65 years of age to that under the age of 18, is 53.39%. The elderly population, defined as being over 65 years of age, has increased by 21.95% over the last 10 years. The current birth rate in Cagliari is 6.29 births per 1,000 inhabitants. The average number of people of any age per household is 2.11 and the percentage of households composed of a single person is 42.53%. The population of Cagliari is structured like that of other first world countries, especially as to the prevalence of an elderly population. The trend of these rates in the Cagliari metropolitan area is proportionally reversed in the suburbs, where most younger families move. , 4.26% (6,658 people) of the population was foreign, of which the largest group were Filipinos (21.33%), followed by Ukrainians (11.93%), Romanians (10.93%),

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

(9.49%) and

Senegalese Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

(9.49%). In 1928, during the fascist regime, the neighbouring municipalities of Pirri,

Selargius Selargius, Ceràrgius or Ceraxius in Sardinian, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari. , it has a population of 28,905. The village exists since th ...

Quartucciu Quartucciu ( sc, Cuartùcciu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari in the Italy, Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari. History Human presences in the territory of Quartucciu is attested since ...

and

, were merged with that of Cagliari. Mussolini's regime wanted to streamline the local administration by eliminating many small towns and at the same time show that Italy was a major power with many large cities. After the war these small municipalities gradually regained their autonomy, except for the former town of Pirri. The first table shows the inhabitants of the town in its present borders, the second one the commune population including the merged municipalities.

Metropolitan City

The Metropolitan City of Cagliari has been established in 2016 by a Sardinia Regional Law and totals about 431,000 inhabitants according to ISTAT. It is composed of 17 municipalities along the coast of the gulf and up to of the inner Campidano plain. It covers an area on the plain of Campidano between large basins (Santa Gilla lagoon and salt mills of about 30 km2 or 3200 acres), ponds (

Molentargius 250px, View towards the Molentargius salt mills. Molentargius - Saline Regional Park (Italian: ''Parco naturale regionale Molentargius - Saline'') is a regional park in Sardinia, Italy. It was established in 1999 with the aim to protect and enh ...

, 16,22 km2 (40,10 acres) and the depopulated mountains up to above sea level. The mountains are largely covered by forests mostly managed by the Ente Foreste of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. To the west these amount to on the Capoterra and Pula mountains. Monte Arcosu WWF Natural Reserve has another , and to the east on Mount Serpeddì and Sette Fratelli there are a total of of forest. The Metropolitan City is defined by municipalities where the population increased between the last two censuses, in a region where the population is otherwise generally decreasing. These municipalities welcome immigrants to the urban area whose main nucleus, the city of Cagliari, has a high number of elderly people. In the last century, the population of the municipalities of the metropolitan area increased by 354% and in the last 50 years by 158% (1911: 128,444; 1961: 288,683; 2011: 454,819). For the whole of Sardinia this increase was respectively 88% and 15% (1911: 868,181; 1961: 1,419,362; 2011: 1,639,362). The urbanisation towards the area of Cagliari was, in percentage terms, impressive, making the capital of the island a metropolis surrounded by rural areas increasingly depopulated. This urbanisation is also reflected in the concentration in Cagliari of most of the economic activities and wealth.

Economy

Cagliari - Sella del Diavolo - Capo Sant'Elia

According to 2014 data from the Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs, the inhabitants of Cagliari benefited a per capita income of 23,220 euros (being the fifth Regional Capital), that is the 122% of the national average, while all of Sardinia benefited only 16,640 euros, being the 13th Region and 86% of the national average. The metropolitan area benefited an average income of 19,185 euros, 103% of the national average. With the 26% of the island population the Cagliari Metropolitan City produces the 31% of its GDP. As the capital city of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, Cagliari is the administrative hub and headquarters of the region as well as of the provincial and regional offices of the Italian central administration. Cagliari is also the main trade and industrial centre of the island, with numerous commercial sites and factories within its metropolitan boundaries. Cagliari is the fourth port of Italy for movement of goods in tons (35,922,468), and the 18th for passengers (705,715), of whome 394,697 cruise passengers (8th in Italy). The first department store, ( La Rinascente) opened in 1931 in the centre of the city, and it is still open today. Nowadays there are many commercial centres in the metropolitan area (Le Vele, Santa Gilla, La Corte del Sole, Marconi) hosting many European chain stores such as

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% s ...

Metro AG Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. Until 2020 it was also active in general retail business through Real division, wh ...

, Lidl, MediaWorld,

Euronics Euronics International Ltd. is an international association of over 11,000 independent electrical retailers in 37 countries. It functions as a leading international electrical retail group on behalf of its members, and is based in Amsterdam ...

, Jysk,

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

, Carrefour and

Bata Shoes The Bata Corporation (known as Bata, and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, known as Baťa) is a multinational footwear, apparel and fashion accessories manufacturer and retailer of Moravian (Czech) origin, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzer ...

. Cagliari is also home to an Amazon customer service center. Cagliari is the main operational headquarters of the Banco di Sardegna, which belongs to the BPER Group and is listed on

Borsa Italiana Borsa Italiana, based in Milan, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.italy24.ils ...

, of the

Banca di Cagliari Banca may refer to: Places * Bangka Island, an island lying east of Sumatra, part of Indonesia * Banca, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département'', France * Banca, Tasmania, a locality in Tasmania, Australia * ...

Banca di Credito Sardo The Banca di Credito Sardo S.p.A. was an Italian bank headquartered in Cagliari, Sardinia. In 2014 it was absorbed by the parent company Intesa Sanpaolo. The head office building, located in Cagliari, was designed by the Italian architect Renzo ...

was based in Cagliari until it was absorbed by the parent company Intesa Sanpaolo. The Macchiareddu-Grogastru area between Cagliari and Capoterra is one of the most important industrial areas of Sardinia, in conjunction with a large international container terminal port at Giorgino. Beside having one of the biggest container terminals on the Mediterranean Sea, Cagliari also has one of the largest fish markets in Italy offering for sale a vast array of fish to both the public and traders. The communications provider Tiscali also has its headquarters in Cagliari. Multinational corporations like Coca-Cola, Heineken, Unilever,

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...

and Eni Group have factories in town. One of the six oil refinery supersites in Europe, Saras, is located within the metropolitan area at

Sarroch Sarroch ( sc, Sarrocu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about southwest of Cagliari. Sarroch borders the following municipalities: Assemini, Capoterra, Pula, Villa San ...

Tourism is one of the major industries of the city, although historical venues such as its monumental Middle Ages and Early modern period defence system, its Carthaginian, Roman and Byzantine ruins are less highlighted compared to the recreational beaches and coastline. Cruise ships touring the Mediterranean often stop for passengers at Cagliari, and the city is a traffic hub to the nearby beaches of

, Chia,

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

and

, as well as to the urban beach of Poettu. Pula is home to the archaeological site of the Punic and Roman city of Nora. Especially in summer many clubs and pubs are goals for young locals and tourists. Pubs and night-clubs are concentrated in the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, a narrow street in Stampace district, in the Marina district, near the port and in the Castello district, The clubs are mostly to be found on the Poetto Beach (in summer) or in Viale Marconi (in winter). In Cagliari there are 180 B&B and 22 hotels that totals 3,300 beds. There are many others hotels in seaside resort of his gulf.

Main sights

Considerable remains of the ancient city of Karalis are still visible, including those of the

(the largest Punic necropolis still in existence), the Roman amphitheatre, traditionally called ''Is centu scalas'' ("One hundred steps"), and of an aqueduct used to provide generally scarce water. Still visible are also some ancient cisterns of vast extent, the ruins of a small circular temple, and numerous sepulchres on a hill outside the modern town that appear to have formed the necropolis of the ancient city. The amphitheatre stages open-air operas and concerts during the summer. Basilica di S

The Palaeo-Christian

Basilica of San Saturnino The Basilica of San Saturnino is a Palaeo-Christian church in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. History The church is mentioned for the first time in the early 6th century. This church had been likely erected near the burial place of St. Saturn ...

, dedicated to a martyr killed under

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

's reign,

Saturninus of Cagliari Saint Saturninus of Cagliari ( it, San Saturnino, Saturno) is venerated as the patron saint of Cagliari. According to Christian tradition, Saturninus was a local martyr –that is, he was killed at Cagliari by order of governor Barbarus.

, patron saint of the city, was built in the 5th century. Of the original building the dome and the central part remain, to which two arms (one with a nave and two aisles) were added later. A Palaeo-Christian crypt is also under the church of ''San Lucifero'' (1660), dedicated to

Saint Lucifer Lucifer of Cagliari ( la, Lucifer Calaritanus, it, Lucifero da Cagliari; died 20 May 370 or 371) was a bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia known for his passionate opposition to Arianism. He is venerated as a Saint in Sardinia, though his status re ...

, a bishop of the city. The church has a Baroque façade with ancient columns and sculpted parts, some of which came from the nearby

The old medieval town (called ''Castello'' in Italian, ''Casteddu de susu'' in Sardinian, "the upper castle") lies on top of a hill with a view of the Gulf of Cagliari (also known as Angels' Gulf). Most of its city walls are intact and include two early 14th-century white limestone towers, the

Torre di San Pancrazio The Torre di San Pancrazio (in Sardinian language: sa turri de Santu Francau) is a medieval tower in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. It is located in the Castello historical quarter of the city. The tower was built in 1305, during the Pisan ...

and the

Torre dell'Elefante The Torre dell'Elefante (Italian: "Tower of the Elephant") is a medieval tower in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. It is located in the Castello historical quarter of the city. History The tower was built in 1307, during the Pisan domina ...

, typical examples of Pisan military architecture. The local white limestone was also used to build the walls of the city and many other buildings, besides the towers. The exact period of construction of a fortress on this hill is unknown at present, due to the superposition of layers of buildings along the history. Some scholars have suggested a first urbanization of the quarter in the Punic era on the basis of similarity of the planimetry with the contemporary Carthaginian fortress of

Monte Sirai Monte Sirai is an archaeological site near Carbonia, in the province of South Sardinia, Sardinia, Italy. It is a settlement built at the top of a hill by the Phoenicians of Sulci (today's Sant'Antioco). The history of studies in Monte Sirai has a ...

. Recently, archaeological excavations have identified Punic and Roman buildings under the ramparts of the fortress. Already the Roman poet Varro called the city "Vicus munitus", a fortified city, and sixteenth-century authors describe a Roman acropolis perhaps still visible in their day.

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, in his memoir of a voyage to Sardinia, ''

Sea and Sardinia ''Sea and Sardinia'' is a travel book by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It describes a brief excursion undertaken in January 1921 by Lawrence and his wife Frieda, a.k.a. Queen Bee, from Taormina in Sicily to the interior of Sardinia. They v ...

'', that he undertook in January 1921, described the effect of warm Mediterranean sunlight on the white limestone city and compared Cagliari to a "white Jerusalem". Cattedrale_Cagliari

The cathedral was restored in the 1930s, returning the former

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

façade into a

Medieval Pisan In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

-style façade more akin to the original appearance of the church in the 13th century. The bell tower is original. The interior has a nave and two aisles, with a pulpit (1159–1162) sculpted for the

Cathedral of Pisa Pisa Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta; Duomo di Pisa) is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the t ...

but later donated to Cagliari. The crypt houses the remains of martyrs found in the Basilica of San Saturno (see below). Near the cathedral is the palace of the provincial government. Before 1900 it was the island's governor's palace. Basilica di Bonaria

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Bonaria ( from which the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, gets its name) was built by the Catalans in 1324–1329 when they were besieging the Pisans in Castello. It has a small

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

portal in the façade and the interior houses a wooden statue of the Madonna, which, after having been thrown off a Spanish ship, landed at the foot of Bonaria hill. Bonaria hill is also the location of the Monumental Cemetery of Bonaria. The ''Chiesa della Purissima'' is a

Catalan Gothic Catalan Gothic is an artistic style, with particular characteristics in the field of architecture. It occurred under the Crown of Aragon between the 13th and 15th centuries, which places it at the end of the European Gothic period and at the begin ...

church built in the 16th century in the Castello distinct. The other early districts of the town (Marina, Stampace and Villanova) retain much of their original character. In Stampace the

Torre dello Sperone The Torre dello Sperone is a medieval tower in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. It is located in the Stampace historical quarter of the city. The tower was part of the city's fortifications built in white limestone by the Pisan in the 13th cent ...

, another tower built by the Pisans in the late 13th century, is located, as well as two important monumental churches: the ''Collegiata di Sant'Anna'' and the ''Chiesa di San Michele'', both built in the 18th century in a baroque style. Many more churches, both old and modern, can be found throughout the city. The Promenade Deck and the Terrazza Umberto I were designed in 1896 by the engineers Joseph Costa and Fulgenzio Setti. The entire building was built of white and yellow limestone in a classical style with

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

. It was opened in 1901. A staircase with two flights provides access from Constitution Square. It is interrupted by a covered walkway and ends beneath the Arc de Triomphe, in the Terrazza Umberto I. In 1943, during World War II, the staircase and the Arch of Triumph were severely damaged by aerial bombardment, but after the conflict they were faithfully reconstructed. From the Terrazza Umberto I the Bastion of Santa Caterina can be accessed via a short flight of steps. Here there was once an old Dominican convent, destroyed by fire in 1800. According to tradition, the conspiracy to kill the Viceroy Camarassa in 1666 was set up in the surroundings of the monastery. Liberty Cagliari

The Promenade Deck was inaugurated in 1902. At first it was used as a banqueting hall, then during the First World War as an infirmary. In the 1930s, during the period of sanctions, it was an exhibition of autarky. During World War II it served as a shelter for displaced people whose homes had been destroyed by bombs. In 1948 it hosted the first Trade Fair of Sardinia. After many years of decay, the Promenade was restored and re-evaluated as a cultural space reserved especially for art exhibitions. The modern districts built in the late 19th and early 20th century contain examples of Art Deco architecture, as well as controversial examples of Fascist

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

architecture, such as the Court of Justice (''Palazzo di Giustizia'') in Republic Square. The Court of Justice is near the biggest city park, Monte Urpinu, with its pine trees, artificial lakes, and a vast area with a hill. The

Orto Botanico dell'Università di Cagliari The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Cagliari (5 hectares), also known as the Orto Botanico di Cagliari, is a botanical garden operated by the University of Cagliari and located at Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 9-11, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. The ...

, the city's botanical garden, is also of interest.

Culture

The city has numerous libraries and is also home to the State Archive, containing thousands of handwritten documents from the foundation of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1325 AD) to the present. In addition to numerous local and university department libraries, the most important libraries are the old University Library, with thousands of ancient books, the Provincial Library, the Regional Library, and the Mediateca of the Mediterranean, which contains the municipal archive and library collection. In the first century B.C. a famous singer and musician from Cagliari, Tigellius, lived in Rome and was satirized by Cicero and

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

. The history of Sardinian literature begins in Cagliari in the first century A.D. In the funerary monument of Atilia Pomptilla, carved into the rock of the necropolis of Tuvixeddu, poems are engraved in Greek and Latin dedicated to his dead wife. Some of them, particularly those in the Greek language, have literary merit. The first Sardinian literary author known was Bishop Lucifer of Cagliari, who wrote severe pamphlets against the

Arian heresy The Arian controversy was a series of Christian disputes about the nature of Christ that began with a dispute between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. The most important of these controversies c ...

in the fourth century A.D. Only in the eleventh century A.D. did the first texts of an administrative nature appear in the modern

, together with hagiographs of local martyrs written in Latin. Life in Cagliari has been depicted by many writers, starting with the late Roman poet

. In the late 16th century, the local humanist Roderigo Hunno Baeza dedicated to his town a didactic Latin poem, ''Caralis Panegyricus''. At the beginning of the 17th century Juan Francisco Carmona wrote a hymn to Cagliari in Spanish; Jacinto Arnal De Bolea published in 1636, in Spanish, the first novel set in Cagliari, entitled ''El Forastero''.

David Herbert Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

wrote about the city in his ''

''. Modern writers connected to Cagliari include

Giuseppe Dessì Giuseppe Dessì (7 August 1909 – 6 July 1977) was an Italian novelist, short-story writer and playwright from Sardinia. His novel ''Paese d'ombre'' won the 1972 Strega Prize and was translated into English as ''The Forests of Norbio''. Dessì g ...

Giulio Angioni Giulio Angioni (28 October 1939 – 12 January 2017) was an Italian writer and anthropologist. Biography Angioni was a leading Italian anthropologist, professor at the University of Cagliari and fellow of St Antony's College of the University o ...

Giorgio Todde Giorgio Todde (17 September 1951 – 29 July 2020) was an Italian writer of crime novels. Biography Todde started his career as a surgeon and ophthalmologist in Cagliari. He participated in the Sardinian Literary Spring and influence of 19th-cen ...

Sergio Atzeni Sergio Atzeni (14 October 1952 in Capoterra – 6 September 1995 in Carloforte) was an Italian writer. Life and career Born in Capoterra, southern Sardinia, Atzeni lived in Orgosolo during his childhood until he moved to Cagliari where, as a jo ...

, (who set many of his novels and short stories, such as ''Bakunin's Son'', in ancient and modern Cagliari),

Flavio Soriga Flavio Soriga (born 1975 in Uta, Sardinia) is an Italian writer. Biography Flavio Soriga is the youngest representative of the Sardinian literary nouvelle vague, aka Sardinian Literary Spring, namely the Sardinian narrative of today in the ...

Cagliari was the birthplace or residence of the composer Ennio Porrino, of the film, theatre and TV director Nanni Loy, and of the actors

Gianni Agus Gianni Agus (17 August 1917 – 4 March 1994) was an Italian actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1938. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1938 and 1991. Life and career Born in Cagliari, Sardinia, after his di ...

, Amedeo Nazzari and

Pier Angeli Pier Angeli (19 June 193210 September 1971), also credited under her real name, Anna Maria Pierangeli, was an Italian-born television and film actress who starred in American, British and European films throughout her career. Her American motio ...

(born Anna Maria Pierangeli). Excluding the Roman era amphitheater, the first theater was inaugurated in Cagliari in 1767: the Teatro Zapata, later becoming the Civic Theatre. Devastated by bombing in 1943, it was recently restored, but the roof was not rebuilt, and today it serves as an open-air theatre. The Politeama Regina Margherita, inaugurated in 1859, was destroyed by fire in 1942 and never rebuilt. Although opera had, and in part still has, a solid tradition the city, it was left without a true theater until 1993 when a new opera house, the Teatro Lirico, was inaugurated. Inside there is a music compound with a music conservatory with its own auditorium, and a music park. Cagliari is and was home to opera singers such as the tenors

Giovanni Matteo Mario Giovanni Matteo De Candia, also known as Mario (17 October 1810 – 11 December 1883), was an Italian opera singer. The most celebrated tenor of his era, he was lionized by audiences in Paris and London. He was the partner of the opera singer Giul ...

(Giovanni Matteo De Candia, 1810–1883) and Piero Schiavazzi (1875–1949), the

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

Angelo Romero (born 1940), the contralto

Bernadette Manca di Nissa Bernadette Manca di Nissa (born 27 September 1954) is an Italian operatic contralto who has sung leading roles in the principal opera houses of Italy as well as internationally. She has appeared at La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro ...

, born 1954 and the

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Giusy Devinu (1960–2007). The Italian pop singer

Marco Carta Marco Carta (born 21 May 1985 in Cagliari, Italy) is an Italian singer. To date, he has sold more than 245,000 albums and 60,000 singles. Biography and career Early life and victory to ''Amici'' Marco Carta was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, in ...

was also born in Cagliari, in 1985. The old Teatro Massimo was only recently renovated and is now the seat of the Teatro Stabile of Sardinia. The Municipal Auditorium, in the former 17th-century church of Santa Teresa, is the seat of the Scuola di Arte Drammatica (School of Dramatic Art) di Cagliari, while the Teatro delle Saline ("Saltworks Theatre"), is home of Akroama, Teatro Stabile di Innovazione ("Permanent Theater of Innovation"). Finally, some comic and satirical theater companies are active in the city, the most well known being the "Compagnia Teatrale Lapola", which offers an urban version of the traditional campidanese comic theater. Founded by Bepi Vigna,

Antonio Serra Antonio Serra was a late 16th-century Italian philosopher and economist in the mercantilist tradition. Biography Little is known about Serra's life. He was born in Cosenza in the late 16th century (the dates of his birth and death are unknownA ...

and

Michele Medda Michele Medda (born 7 December 1962) is an Italian comics writer. Medda was born in Cagliari, Sardinia. In 1991, together with Antonio Serra and Bepi Vigna, he created the science fiction series ''Nathan Never'' for Sergio Bonelli Editore. This ...

, a comic book school, the Centro Internazionale del Fumetto ("Comic Strip International Centre") has been active for several decades. Its founders invented and designed the comic characters

Nathan Never 200px, Cover for ''Nathan Never'' #1. ''Nathan Never'' is a black-and-white, science fiction Italian comic book, published monthly in Italy since 1991 by Sergio Bonelli Editore. It is written by Michele Medda, Antonio Serra and Bepi Vigna. Arti ...

and

Legs Weaver ''Legs Weaver'' is an Italian science fiction comic book published by Sergio Bonelli Editore between 1994 and 2005. Rebecca "Legs" Lawrence Weaver, the main character of the comic, first appeared as supporting character and sparring partner of ...

Museums and galleries

The mother of the killed - Francesco Ciusa, Civic art Gallery

The Polo museale di Cagliari "Cittadella dei musei" (Citadel of Museums) is home to: *Museo archeologico nazionale di Cagliari ( National Archeological Museum of Cagliari), the most important archeological museum of Sardinia, which contains finds from the Neolithic period (6000 B.C.) to the Early Middle Ages about 1000 A.D. *Museo civico d'arte siamese Stefano Cardu (Civic Siamese Art Museum "Stefano Cardu") the most important European collection of Siamese art, gathered by a Cagliaritan collector at the beginning of the 20th century. *Museo delle cere anatomiche Clemente Susini (Anatomical Waxwork Museum "Clemente Susini"). This collection of anatomical waxworks is considered one of the finest in the world, and perfectly describes the human body, testifying to the state of medical and surgical knowledge at the beginning of the 19th century. The collection was created by the sculptor Clemente Susini and includes faithful reproductions of dissections of cadavers performed in the School of Anatomy in Florence 1803-1805 A.D. *Pinacoteca nazionale (National Picture Gallery) *Galleria comunale d'arte (Civic art Gallery) with an important exposition of modern Italian painting offered to the city by its collector (Ingrao Collection), and an exposition of Sardinian artists. *Collezione sarda Luigi Piloni (University Sardinian Collection "Luigi Piloni") *ExMà, MEM, Castello di San Michele, and Il Ghetto exposition centers *Museo di Bonaria (Basilical Church Museum of Bonaria), with an interesting ex-voto collection *Museo del Duomo (Cathedral Museum); *Museo del tesoro di Sant'Eulalia (Treasure Museum of Saint Eulalia of Barcelona; with its important Roman era underground area. *

Orto botanico di Cagliari Orto may refer to: * Orto, Corse-du-Sud Orto (; co, Ortu) is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica. Population See also *Communes of the Corse-du-Sud department An intentional community is a ...

(University Botanical Gardens)

Feast of Sant'Efis

The Feast of St. Ephysius (Sant'Efisio in Italian, Sant'Efis in Sardinian) is the most important religious event of Cagliari, taking place every year on 1 May. During this festival, thousands of people from folk groups all over Sardinia wear their traditional costumes. The saint is escorted by the traditional ancient ''Milicia'', the deputy mayor (Alter Nos), numerous confraternities, and a convoy of chariots pulled by oxen in a procession to Nora (near modern Pula), from Cagliari, where, according to tradition, he was beheaded. In addition to being one of the oldest, it is also the longest Italian religious procession, with about of walks over four days, and the largest in the Mediterranean area. A plague was spreading throughout Sardinia, starting in 1652, and the epidemic infected Cagliari in particular, killing some ten thousand inhabitants. According to legend, in 1656 St. Ephysius appeared to the Spanish Viceroy,

Francisco Fernández de Castro Andrade, Count of Lemos Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

to request a procession on 1 May, in order to free the city from the plague. The Municipality of Cagliari swore that, if the plague disappeared, a procession would be held every day in the saint's honor, starting from the Stampace district and ending at Nora where the saint was martyred. In September the plague ended, and the procession and festival was therefore regularly held starting the following year on 1 May. The procession was held even during the last war; a statue of the saint was placed on a lorry and, through city ruins of the devastated by the bombs, arrived safely in Nora.

Other events

Other feasts and events in Cagliari include: *The Carnival *Holy Week and Easter celebrations *Sea processions of St. Francis of Paola, held in May, and Nostra Signora di Bonaria, in July *Cagliari Fair, in early May *

Audi MedCup The Audi MedCup was a sailing competition which began in 2005 and turned into the world’s leading regatta circuit. The event was last held in 2011. It was sailed in the TP 52 and Soto 40 classes (previously the GP42 class in 2009–2010). ...

regatta

Languages

The native language of Cagliari, declared official along with Italian, is Sardinian (''sardu''), a

Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...

, specifically the

Campidanese dialect Campidanese Sardinian ( sc, sardu campidanesu, it, sardo campidanese) is one of the two written standards of the Sardinian language, which is often considered one of the most, if not the most conservative (language), conservative of all the Ro ...

(''campidanesu'') in its local variant (''casteddaju''). The variant of Cagliari in its high register has traditionally represented the linguistic model of reference for the entire southern area of the island, and the high social variant used by the middle class in the whole Campidanese domain, as well as the literary model of reference for writers and poets. This language is less spoken by the younger generations in the city, who use Italian instead as that language is compulsory in education and the mass media. Italian has increasingly become predominant in social relations, both formal and informal, relegating Sardinian to a mostly marginal role in everyday life. Young people often have only passive competence in the language, gathered from elderly relatives who still speak it, as their parents often speak only Italian, or they may use a slang ('' italianu porceddinu'') that mixes both Sardinian and Italian. Since Cagliari was the metropolis of the ancient Roman province, it absorbed innovations coming from Rome, Carthage, and Constantinople, and its language probably reflected late Latin urban dialects of the 5th-century core cities of the empire. Sea food Cagliari

Gastronomy

Cagliari has some unique gastronomic traditions: unlike the rest of the island its cuisine is mostly based on the wide variety of locally available

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

. Although it is possible to trace influences from

, Sicilian and Genoese cuisine, Cagliaritan food has a distinctive and unique character. Excellent wines are also part of Cagliaritanians' dinners, like the Cannonau, Nuragus, Nasco,

Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

, Moscau, Girò and Malvasia, produced in the nearby vineyards of the Campidano plain.

Media

The main newspaper of Sardinia is ''

L'Unione Sarda ''L'Unione Sarda'' is an Italian regional daily newspaper for the island of Sardinia. It is the oldest newspaper in Sardinia still publishing. History and profile ''L'Unione Sarda'' was first published on 13 October 1889. In its initial phase Raf ...

'', it was founded in Cagliari in 1889. It was one of the first European newspapers to have its own website in 1994. It has a circulation of about 85,000 copies. The main regional headquarters of RAI, the Italian state-owned radio and television network, is in Cagliari. There are also two regional television and radio companies as well as numerous information sites on the internet.

Sports

Cagliari is home to the football team Cagliari Calcio, winner of the Italian league championship in 1970, when the team was led by

Gigi Riva Luigi "Gigi" Riva (; born 7 November 1944) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. Considered to be one of the best players of his generation, as well as one of the greatest strikers of all time, Riva enjoyed ...

. Founded in 1920, the club played at the

Stadio Sant'Elia Stadio Comunale Sant'Elia was a football stadium in Cagliari, Italy. It is best known for having been the home of Cagliari Calcio. It hosted three matches during the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The stadium had an initial capacity of 60,000 spectators, ...

in the city from 1970 until it was closed in the summer of 2017, causing the club to temporarily relocate to the provisional

Sardegna Arena The Unipol Domus is a football stadium in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. Built in 2017 as Sardegna Arena, it hosts Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. I ...

. Sant'Elia was the venue for three

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

matches. Cagliari is an ideal location for water sports such as

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

, kitesurfing, windsurfing and sailing due to strong and reliable favourable winds. Field hockey is also popular, with two teams in the Italian top division, G.S. Amsicora and C.U.S. Cagliari, the first of which won the league title more often than any other Italian team in the men's championship (20) and is also the protagonist in the women's division. Sport venues in Cagliari include: *

*Tennis Club Cagliari *Rockfeller sports hall *Rockfeller skating rink *Via dello Sport gymnastics hall *Terra Maini Olympionic pool *Amsicora Stadium *Rari Nantes pool *Esperia pool *Riccardo Santoru athletics stadium *Civic pool *Acquasport pool *Poettu hippodrome *Mario Siddi fencing gymnasium *Mulinu Becciu tennis table hall *Facilities of the University Sports Center, C.U.S. Cagliari

Government

Cagliari is the hub of the administration offices of the Sardinia Autonomous Region and of Cagliari Province. It is also the home of several local offices of the Italian central administration. It is the seat of the Superintendency of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, of the Sardinia Archival Superintendency and of the Archeological Superintendency of the Cultural Heritage Ministry, of the Sardinia and Provincial seat of the Employment and Social Policies Ministry, of the regional offices of the Finance and Economy Ministry, and of some branch offices of the Health Ministry. Cagliari is home to all criminal, civil, administrative and accounting courts for Sardinia of the Ministry of Justice up to the High Court of Assizes of Appeal. It was home to a prison, Buon Cammino, built in the late 19th century, famous because no one has ever managed to escape. A new modern prison has been built in the nearby town of Uta. Traditionally, votes in Cagliari are oriented towards the center-right wing. Since World War II, all the mayors belonged to the

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

party with the exception of Salvatore Ferrara, from the Socialist Party, allied with the former. After the collapse of the traditional parties in the 1990s, the mayors belonged to the party or the coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi. The current economic and political crisis that affects Italy has prompted the electorate toward a large abstention and to elect a young mayor, Massimo Zedda, who belongs to a centre-left alliance. In the last municipal elections in June 2016, Massimo Zedda was confirmed in the first round with 50.86% of the votes.

Education

Cagliari is home to the

, the largest public university in Sardinia, founded in 1626. It currently includes six faculties: Engineering and Architecture, Medicine and Surgery, Economics, Juridical and Political Sciences, Basic Sciences, Biology and Pharmacy, Humanistic Studies. It is attended by about 35,000 students. All science faculties of the university, as well as the university hospital, have been transferred to a new "University Citadel", located in Monserrato. Cagliari's downtown houses the engineering and the humanities divisions and, in the Castle, the seat of the Rector, in an 18th-century palace with a library of thousands of ancient books. Cagliari is also the seat of the

Pontifical Faculty of Theology of Sardinia The Pontifical Faculty of Theology of Sardinia is a theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminari ...

and of the

European Institute of Design European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

Health care

Ospedale_San_Michele_-_scale_antincendio

Life expectancy in Cagliari is high: 79.5 years for men and 85.4 for women (provincial level). There has been a public hospital in Cagliari since the 17th century. The first modern structure was built in the middle of the 19th century, designed by the architect

Gaetano Cima Gaetano Cima (1805 in Cagliari – 1878 in Cagliari) was an Italian architect, exponent of the neoclassical movement. Biography Gaetano Cima was born in Cagliari, Sardinia by an upper-middle-class family. Gaetano Cima died in Cagliari in 187 ...

. This hospital is still operating, although all its departments will eventually be transferred to the new University Hospital in Monserrato. Among the other public hospitals, the Giuseppe Brotzu (San Michele) Hospital was recognized in 1993 as a High Specialization Nationally Relevant Hospital, particularly for liver, heart, pancreas and bone marrow transplants. Other public hospitals in the city include: the ''Santissima Trinità'' or commonly ''Is Mirrionis''; the ''Binaghi'', specialised in

pulmonology Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract. ...

; ''Marino'' specialised in traumatology,

hyperbaric medicine Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...

and

spinal cord injuries A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...

; ''Businco'' specialised in oncology; and ''Microcitemico'', specialised in

thalassemia Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders characterized by decreased hemoglobin production. Symptoms depend on the type and can vary from none to severe. Often there is mild to severe anemia (low red blood cells or hemoglobin). Anemia can result ...

, Genetic diseases and rare diseases. There are in addition many private hospitals. Despite its dry climate, thanks to the regional system of dams, every inhabitant of Cagliari may have per day of safe drinking water. Waste sorting is still at a low level: only 33.4 percent of waste is separated.

Transport

Airport

The city is served by the Cagliari-Elmas International Airport, located a few kilometres from the centre of Cagliari. It is the 13th busiest aeroport in Italy by passengers traffic with around 4,370,000 passengers in 2018. A railway line connects the city to the airport; walkways join the railway station to the air terminal. The terminal is also connected to the city by highway SS 130 and by a bus service run by the ARST company to the central bus station in Matteotti square, in the centre of the city. There are other airports not too far from the city: Deciomannu Airport, a NATO military airport and three fields for air sports, Serdiana (used in particular for skydiving), Castiadas and Decimoputzu.

Roads

Cable-stayed bridge of the Monserrato University Campus interchange

The following national roads begin in Cagliari: * Strada Statale 131 Italia

Italian traffic signs - strada europea 25

''Carlo Felice'' to Sassari - Porto Torres (motorway-like until Oristano) and to Olbia (SS131 Central Nuorese Branch). * Strada Statale 130 Italia

''Iglesiente'', to Iglesias and Carbonia. * Strada Statale 125 Italia

''Orientale Sarda'', which connects Cagliari to Tortolì and Olbia, ending in Palau, across from Corsica. * Strada Statale 195 Italia

''Sulcitana'', connecting Cagliari with Sulcis along the coast. * Strada Statale 554 Italia

''Cagliaritana'' * Strada Statale 387 Italia

''del Gerrei'', to Ballao and Ogliastra. *''Provincial Road 17'' connects Poetto

Ports

The port of Cagliari is divided in two sector, the old port and the new international

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

. The port system of Cagliari-Sarroch is the third for freight traffic in Italy with a movement of about 38 million tons in 2017. Cagliari has scheduled services by passenger ship to Civitavecchia, Naples and

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. In Cagliari there are also two other small touristic ports, ''Su Siccu'' (Lega Navale) and ''Marina Piccola''.

Railways

The

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

railway station in Cagliari has services to Iglesias, Carbonia, Olbia,

Golfo Aranci Golfo Aranci (Gallurese: ''Figari'', sc, Figari) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about northeast of Olbia. History The town's name ("Gulf of the Ora ...

and

Porto Torres Porto Torres ( sdc, Posthudorra, sc, Portu Turre) is a comune and a city of the Province of Sassari in north-west of Sardinia, Italy. Founded during the 1st century BC as ''Colonia Iulia Turris Libisonis'', it was the first Roman colony of the ...

. The nearby commune of

is the terminal railway station of a narrow gauge line to Arbatax and

Sorgono Sorgono ( sc, Sòrgono) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about southwest of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,927 and an area of .Al ...

Urban and suburban mobility

Bus and trolleybus services, managed by CTM (more than 30 lines) and ARST, connect internal destinations in the city and in the metropolitan area; Cagliari is one of the few Italian cities with an extensive trolleybus network, whose fleet has been partially renovated in 2012. A metro-like tram service on its own rail, MetroCagliari, operates between Piazza Repubblica and the new university campus near

(line 1) and from

San Gottardo and

Settimo San Pietro Settimo San Pietro, Sètimu in Sardinian language, is a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari. Settimo San Pietro borders the following municipalities: Q ...

(line 2). A line between Piazza Repubblica and Piazza Matteotti, the city transport hub (with train, urban and extra-urban bus stations), is planned. Trenitalia, the primary train operator in Italy, operates a metro train service between Cagliari Central Station and

, which connects the airport with the city center. A public bike-sharing service is operating with pick-up points at Via Sonnino - Palazzo Civico, Piazza Repubblica, Piazza Giovanni 23, and Marina Piccola.

Twin towns – sister cities

Cagliari is twinned with: * Buenos Aires, Argentina * Nanyuki, Kenya *

, Italy * Vercelli, Italy * Turin, Italy * Padua, Italy, 2002 * Biella, Italy, 2003

Consulates

In Cagliari there are at present (2018) the following consulates: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * . *

External links

*
Cagliari Tourist Board website
{{Authority control Populated places established in the 7th century BC Capitals of former nations Cities and towns in Sardinia Populated coastal places in Italy Mediterranean port cities and towns in Italy Phoenician colonies in Sardinia Roman towns and cities in Italy Wine regions of Italy