Urban Planning And New Towns In Medieval Sardinia 543
ancient Roman port basin.92 The city’s defense system was comprised of walls,
which can only be partially and hypothetically reconstructed, and a small
castle towards the sea that was destroyed during the nineteenth century. The
walls are mentioned in several documents and a 1739 drawing reproduces their
92 The Church of San Paolo was also founded on an ancient temple. On the port, see Rubens
D’Oriano, “Relitti di storia: lo scavo del porto di Olbia,” in L’Africa Romana: lo spazio marit-
timo del Mediterraneo occidentale, geografia storica ed economia: atti del XIV Convegno di
studio, Sassari, 7–10 dicembre 2000, eds Mustapha Khanoussi, Paola Ruggeri, and Cinzia
Vismara (Rome, 2002), pp. 1249–1262; on medieval ruins, see Edoardo Riccardi, “I relitti
del porto di Olbia,” in L’Africa Romana: lo spazio marittimo del Mediterraneo occiden-
tale, geografia storica ed economia: atti del XIV Convegno di studio, Sassari, 7–10 dicem-
bre 2000, eds Mustapha Khanoussi, Paola Ruggeri, and Cinzia Vismara (Rome, Carocci),
pp. 1263–1274.
Figure 19.19 Olbia, reconstructed hypothesis of the new Pisan city (post 1296–ante 1305),
which incorporates a Roman road (a-a’) in its plan. San Simplicio Cathedral
(11th century, 1); the new medieval port is guarded by the churches dedicated to
Sant’Antonio (3) and Madonna del Mare (4). A Roman port with piers and
wreckage is filled for the occasion with other medieval shipwrecks (in grey)
useful for the formation of a new coastline (particulars of the shipwrecks from
D’Oriano, 2002, p. 1256; Cadinu and Pinna, 2015, Table 7).