Airport Alghero - Airport Map

About Alghero

Brief historical notes and origins of the ciutad

Alghero, known as Italy’s Barceloneta (little Barcelona), was founded in the XII century by the powerful Doria family, who ably exploited the strategic location of Alghero, there building one of the most important examples of military architecture on the island. Despite the various re-workings, the fortifications remain a distinctive presence today, with the defence towers framing the ominous yet harmonious architectonic seafront design.

The town has been occupied by various colonists over the years, but it was the Pisa domination that really altered both the look and spirit of the town, particularly as concerns the language. In 1354 the expansion policy of the Crown of Aragon reached Alghero, which, by the hand of Peter IV the Ceremonious,
was then purged and transformed, in just a short space of time, into one of the many colonies that orbited around the central power of the kingdom.

The important examples of Gothic-Catalan architecture located within the urban nucleus, form a unique, lavish, and indelible proof of the Catalan passing.

One important example of this is provided by the church of San Francesco, which conforms to the architectonic models of the eastern Spanish, with the characteristic star-shaped vault in the presbytery, and the evocative internal cloisters. The linguistic heritage is yet more surprising: the local variant of Catalan – algherese – is ever more alive and spoken amongst today’s inhabitants.

Although Alguer was founded only relatively ‘recently’, the surrounding area is dotted with settlements of remote and historically important origin, as borne out by the imposing nuragic complex of Palmavera, and that discovered in Sant'Imbenia during the 1980s. Right next to the Sant’Imbenia complex, located in the enchanting bay of Porto Conte (the only natural harbour in Sardinia), previously known as Portus Ninpharum as mentioned in Ptolemy’s geography, we find the remains of a villa dating back to Roman times, and that can still be seen today.

Another site of great interest, and the largest of the graveyard complexes of the region, is the pre-nuragic necropolis of Anghelo ruju, located near to the road ‘dei due mari’ running from Alghero to Porto Torres - and within easy reach of the airport.