Urban Planning And New Towns In Medieval Sardinia 505
the sporadic archaeological digs, which are interesting but topographically
uncontrollable.19
Despite the exaggerated assessments of the nineteenth- to twentieth-cen-
tury regionalist tradition, the ancient legacy left on Sardinia’s medieval urban
form seems irrelevant. The myth of a close link between the ancient world and
the late Middle Ages, which in fact cannot be proven, has weighed on the his-
toriography of Sardinian towns and cities. This has resulted in a downplaying
of the independent cultural significance of the medieval era and a limited in-
terpretation of its specific characteristics.20 In fact, the ancient and medieval
cities differ greatly from one another and belong to different moments in the
island’s urban history: Cagliari, Iglesias, and Terranova-Olbia date to the medi-
eval Pisan era and identify as new towns; Alghero and the Cagliari harbor dis-
trict stem from fourteenth-century Iberian culture; Oristano, Bosa, and Sassari,
along with many smaller towns, relate to an earlier cultural period, connected
to the giudicato era and to previous Mediterranean authorities.
Archaeological studies of Sardinia have traditionally focused primarily on
the prehistoric and Punic/Roman eras. Only in recent decades has the medi-
eval period begun to be reconsidered, with explorations of the continuity of
usage in particular places, as well as the plight of the episcopal structures be-
tween antiquity and the early Middle Ages in places such as Cornus (north
of Oristano) or the Bosa area, opening new research possibilities for a period
rich in cultural content and relationships with architectural history.21 Interest
19 Pinna, Santa Igia. Late ancient and medieval archaeological traces have been found in
places sufficiently far apart to render superfluous the topographic reconstruction and in-
terpretation of urban planning in the city of Cagliari prior to the reestablishment of Pisa.
Pinna’s thesis—drawn on necessarily general topographic bases but on a rigorous his-
torical framework—places Santa Igia between the Corso and the church of San Pietro de
Portu, and in close relation with the ancient core and especially with the new thirteenth-
century Pisan castello and the lagoon. In these area, routes like via Carloforte and the
Corso are structurally consistent with the Giudicato period in Cagliari, in particular the
late twelfth century and the government of Giudice Guglielmo di Massa.
20 Without any planning or historical evidence, in the past scholars have identified the
harbor district of Cagliari with a Roman fort, or identified a Byzantine castrum in Olbia
and regular centuriation in Oristano. The discussion of this observation deserves more
space, and concerns many Italian cities. See Marco Cadinu, “Originalità e derivazioni
nella formazione urbanistica dei centri minori della Sardegna,” in Atlante delle culture
costruttive della Sardegna. Approfondimenti, ed. Antonello Sanna and Gian Giacomo Ortu
(Rome, 2009), pp. 101–146.
21 Letizia Pani Ermini, “La Sardegna nel periodo vandalico,” in Storia dei Sardi e della
Sardegna, ed. Massimo Guidetti (Milan, 1988), vol. 1, pp. 297–327; Martorelli, “Archeologia
urbana a Cagliari.”