342 Rovina
number of blind alleys together with a dense urban fabric organized by com-
munal courts facing private dwellings: all peculiarities, according to the au-
thor, that can be related to ninth-tenth-century, possibly north African, Islamic
urban plans.
The church of S. Nicola was built prior to the early twelfth century on the
edge and most elevated part of this area, following a scheme common even in
later medieval villages. It was rebuilt in a Catalan-Aragonese style in the fif-
teenth century following the transfer of the archiepiscopal see from Torres and
the demolition of the earlier Romanesque structure, some walls of which were
identified in the course of excavations inside the Duomo in 1991 (Fig. 13.5).22
Several pits and cisterns, as well as an oil press, were uncovered in the church’s
22 Daniela Rovina, “Il restauro del Duomo di Sassari: il contributo dell’archeologia alla sto-
ria del monumento,” in Restauro Architettura Centri Storici Atti del Convegno Nazionale,
Sassari 26–28 May 1994, ed. Roberto Luciani (Sassari, 1998), pp. 137–144.
Figure 13.3 The area of the early medieval village: 1. Largo Monache Cappuccine, 2. Largo
Seminario, 3. Piazza Duomo, 4. Structural remains in Vicolo del Duomo.
With kind permission of the Archaeological Superintendence
of Sardinia, Italian Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism.