Urban Planning And New Towns In Medieval Sardinia 545
provided a constant slope for the terrain and probably advanced the coastline
by redefining the Pisan port system (Fig. 19.20).96
Both James II of Aragon and his son Alfonso looked to the avant-garde
cultural center of Montpellier as a model in the study of the classical world
and the imperial tradition. Planners who had probably come from the city of
Montpellier reshaped the face of Cagliari and its waterfront facade, arguably
according to contemporary aesthetic ideals. This suggestion of the French
city’s exemplary role is provided by the use of the “Montpellier rod” to mea-
sure the district’s new roads.97 Other units of measurement, zoning regula-
tions, and architects came to Cagliari from Catalonia and Aragon. Much like
Terranova, their urbanism consisted of long, straight streets, new alignments
between towers, and incentives for private investment through precise hous-
ing regulations similar to those used in Barcelona. The Catalans and Aragonese
encouraged the expropriation and unification of row houses to build large pri-
vate mansions under a single design, with the clear aim of creating the city’s
most beautiful central streets.98 In Sardinia, the thousands of new settlers from
Spain consequently found an environment comparable to their homeland, in a
land full of economic and social opportunities.99
96 The rectilinear Catalonian network is evident in relation to the previous stages of the
district’s planning. Two examples are the route between the Gate of the Lion and the
sea (via Barcelona), designed as a result of the foundation of the Pisan castle, and the
system of curvilinear routes that connect the east and west sides of the district. Marco
Cadinu, “Il nuovo quartiere aragonese sul porto nel primo Trecento a Cagliari,” Storia
dell’Urbanistica. Sardegna, 1 (2008), pp. 137–146, 45–48. See also port neighborhoods in
Barcelona and Naples in Teresa Colletta, Città portuali del Mediterraneo: luoghi dello scam-
bio commerciale e colonie di mercanti stranieri tra Medioevo ed età moderna (Milan, 2012).
97 The Montpellier canna (Montispessulani), equal to 1.88 meters, is indicated as the mea-
surement of the minimal lots to be assigned (3 x 5). It can be found in the notary acts
of the fourteenth century along with the Barcelona canna. Cadinu, “Il nuovo quartiere.”
Subdivisions with square blocks were executed at the end of the thirteenth century in
Montpelier and Perpignan, according to ancient world traditions found in bastides archi-
tecture. The city’s university hosted important figures like Raimondo Lullo and Arnaldo
di Villanova and also became the destination for many Aragonese monarchs. Ghislaine
Fabre, Thierry Lochard, and Claudie Duhamel-Amado, Montpellier. La ville mèdièvale
(Paris, 1992).
98 On the fourteenth-century concept of beauty, see Enrico Guidoni, “Città grandi ricche
sicure sante e belle l’apogeo urbano della città nel Trecento,” Storia dell’Urbanistica.
Sardegna 1 (2008), pp. 13–23.
99 For documentary evidence see Maria Bonaria Urban, Cagliari aragonese: topografia e
insediamento (Cagliari, 2000).