Cagliari historical timeline

Cagliari has been the key to Sardinia for close to three thousand years, and has been held by almost everyone who mattered in the western Mediterranean.

Karalis

The Phoenicians established a settlement here, and under Carthage and then Rome it became Karalis, the island's principal city. The Roman amphitheatre cut into the hillside dates from that period, as does the vast Punic necropolis at Tuvixeddu.

The judicates

After Rome and a Byzantine period, Sardinia split into four independent giudicati, self-governing kingdoms unique to the island. Cagliari was the seat of one of them until Pisa took control in 1258 and built the citadel on the ridge, with the towers that still stand.

Aragonese and Spanish rule

In 1326 the Aragonese took the city, and Cagliari — Casteddu in Sardinian — became the capital of a Spanish possession for nearly four hundred years. The Catalan and Castilian centuries left more mark on the city's speech, food and building than anything since.

Savoy and Italy

The island passed to the House of Savoy in 1720, and Cagliari became capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the state that went on to unify Italy.

1943 and after

Allied bombing in February and May 1943 destroyed a large part of the city. Cagliari was the most heavily bombed place in Sardinia; the population fell to a fraction of its pre-war level as people were evacuated into the countryside, and many never returned. The rebuilding afterwards is why the centre mixes medieval quarters with a great deal of plain post-war construction.