534 Cadinu
Figure 19.13 Aerial view of Cagliari. The Castello district founded by the Pisans in 1216 seen
from the waterfront, now enclosed by large bulwarks, which were built from the
middle of the sixteenth century onwards.
photo: Gianni Alvito, Teravista, Cagliari.
Castello hill consequently led to the fortification of Bagnaria. It is important
to imagine two defensive lines connecting the hill and the harbor, protecting
a new street (now Via Barcelona) that geometrically and functionally extend-
ed the ruga Mercatorum (Fig. 19.14). In effect, this system destabilized the or-
thogonal coastal roads and thereby the continuity in the connections between
the giudicale harbors. It dramatically interrupted the coastline between San
Pietro dei Pescatori (called de Portu), San Nicola near Campidoglio (adjacent
to Santa Igia), the village of Bagnaria, the port of Santa Maria de Portu Gruttis
at Bonaria, and San Saturno. The truncation of the coastal road system that
had been accessible along the length of the city and was probably of ancient
heritage marked a crisis for the spatial system of the capital, Santa Igia.76
76 Pisa’s territorial maneuver was important, although historians of medieval towns did not
consider it due to their unwillingness to consider strategic interactions between the foun-
dation of the Pisan Castello and the capital, Santa Igia, always believed to be miles away
and poorly connected with its surroundings. My interpretation derives from Raimondo
Pinna’s recent proposal of the topographical location of the Giudicato; see Pinna, Santa
Igia. Cadinu, “Il territorio di Santa Igia e il progetto di fondazione del Castello di Cagliari.”