Travel guide

Sassari
Sassari (120,729 inhabitants) originated in the Middle Ages, from the
aggregation of villages initially separated. Right in the heart of the
historical centre is the cathedral of San Nicola, built during the romanic
period and featuring remarkable cross vaults of the aragonese period, as
well as an extraordinary XVII century façade in Baroque style. The ancient
core of the town preserves still nowadays a mediaeval aspect, with still
visible short stretches of the walls demolished in the 1800s. The historical
centre is full of churches as well as private and public palaces, including
the XV century Palazzetto d’Usini or the Frumentaria, an ancient granitic
hillock bearing the carved coats-of-arms of Sassari and Aragona. Access to
town was controlled by means of four gates including Porta Rosello,
beyond which it is now possible to visit the fountain of Rosello, the most
famous ornamental spring in Sardinia built in the 1600s. In the south was
Porta Castello, in the proximity of which stood an Aragonese castle
amongst the biggest in Sardinia, which was unfortunately demolished in
the 1800s. Outside the walls are the convents of Santa Maria di Betlem
and of San Pietro di Silki. The modern town has developed around
mediaeval Sassari. Worth visiting is the Palazzo della Provincia (Palace of
the Province), which was built at the end of the 1800s and houses several
works of Sardinian artists plus a wall painting by Giuseppe Sciuti from
Catania, representing L’ingresso di Gio Maria Angioy a Sassari (The arrival
of Gio Maria Angioy in Sassari). The region within the Province of Sassari is
full of wonderful coastal areas and sites of tourist interest. Not to be
missed is a visit to the abandoned mining centre of Argentiera, to towns
of mediaeval origin such as Castelsardo (founded by the Doria family), to
Alghero (of Catalan traditions), or to monuments, such as the grandiose
Romanesque basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres.
On the left:
The Cathedral
of San Nicola,
Sassari
On the right:
Mediaeval coats-ofarms
in the city walls
of Sassari