Cagliari is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an Autonomous Region of Italy. Cagliari’s Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has nearly 150,000 inhabitants, while its metropolitan area has more than 480,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the University of Cagliari.
An ancient city with a long history, Cagliari has seen the rule of several civilizations. Under the buildings of the modern city there is a continuous stratification of human settlements of about five thousand years, from the Neolithic to today. Historical sites include the prehistoric domus de janas, very damaged by cave activity, a Byzantine basilica, three Pisan-era towers, a strong system of fortification that made the town the core of the Spanish Habsburg imperial power in the western Mediterranean sea. Its natural resources have always been its sheltered harbor, the oft-powerfully fortified hill of Monti Castru, the modern Casteddu, the salt from its lagoons, and, from inland, the Campidano plain wheat and the Iglesiente mines.
It was the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia (which in 1861 became the Kingdom of Italy) from 1324 to 1848, when Turin became the formal capital of the kingdom. Today the city is a regional cultural, educational, political and artistic centre, known for its diverse Art Nouveau architecture and several monuments, and Sardinia’s economic and industrial hub, having one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean sea, an international airport, and the 106th highest income rate in Italy (among 8.092 comuni), comparable to that of several Northern cities.
Considerable remains of the ancient city of Karalis are still visible, including those of the Tuvixeddu necropolis, the Roman Amphitheatre, traditionally called Is centu scalas (“One hundred steps”), and of an aqueduct, used to provide a water in which it is generally scarce. 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, which appears to have formed the necropolis of the ancient city The Amphitheatre still stages open-air operas and concerts during the summer. The modern districts built in late 19th century and the early 20th century contains examples of Art Deco architecture, as well as controversial examples of Fascist neoclassicism, such as the Justice Court (Palazzo di Giustizia) in the Republic Square. The Justice Court is close to the biggest town park, Monte Urpinu, with its pine trees and artificial lakes. The park includes a vast area of a hill. The Orto Botanico dell’Università di Cagliari, the city’s botanical garden, is also of interest. The other early districts of the town (Marina, Stampace and Villanova) retain much of their original appeal. In Stampace is located the Torre dello Sperone, another tower built by the Pisans in the late 13th-century, and two important monumental church: the Collegiata di Sant’Anna and the Chiesa di San Michele, both built in the 18th century in baroque style. Many more churches, both old and modern, can be found through the city. The city has numerous libraries and is also home to the State Archive, containing thousand 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.
