350 Rovina
In 1277, Bishop Dorgotorio subdivided the already populous and urbanized34
Sassari into five parishes: S. Caterina, S. Donato, S. Apollinare, S. Sisto, and
S. Nicola (the first four were subject to the last one). Next to S. Nicola by pre-
cise order of Dorgotorio, lay the sole urban cemetery in Sassari, which was
partly examined during the recent archaeological investigation. It extended
all around the church, with large cavities excavated into the calcareous rock
(Fig. 13.9) that contained various tombs dated to between the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries based on the presence of clothing accessories, such as but-
tons, eyelets, and buckles of the type well known in Sardinia, as well as in con-
tinental Italy and Europe.35
A reading of the statutes generates a picture of an already structured urban
organization in the main public spaces: the Palazzo del Podestà, opposite
the church of S. Caterina, in present-day Piazza Azuni; the platha de Cotinas
34 According to John Day, Uomini e terre nella Sardegna coloniale XII–XVIII secolo (Turin,
1987), at the close of the century the population grew from 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants.
35 Daniela Rovina, “Fashion and Jewelry in Sardinia in the Early and Late Middle Ages,” in
this volume.
Figure 13.8 Codex of Sassari’s statutes.
With kind permission of the Archaeological
Superintendence of Sardinia, Italian Ministry of Arts,
Culture and Tourism.