Jews In Sardinia 167
‘individuals,’ namely with settlements of people coming from different areas
who did not stay long enough to be able to live Judaism in a particular way.”5
1323 marked the onset of Catalan-Aragonese domination of the kingdom
of Sardinia under the Infante Alfonso of Aragon. A number of Jews from
Catalonia, Aragon, Majorca, and Valencia moved to the island upon Alfonso’s
promise to grant them a series of special dispensations. Others followed,
drawn by the possibilities of trading and participating in the establishment
of the future colonies (aljamas) in the towns of Cagliari, Sassari, Alghero, and
Oristano.6
5 The Aljamas in Cagliari’s Castello Quarter, Sassari, Alghero, and
Oristano
Cagliari’s Jewish population soon grew in number, as a result of the Sovereign’s
Decree of 1332. This provision exempted any Jews or Jewesses who chose to
take up residence on the island from paying tax to the royal treasury for three
years, and attracted numerous Catalan, Majorcan, and Provençal families hop-
ing to make a profit.7 There are records for both the synagogue and the first
cemetery from 1341 onwards. At the same time, the few streets inhabited by the
Jews became an actual quarter, which was known as the judaria.8 It was bor-
dered on one side by the city’s walls and on the other by the Rua de la Fontana
and its side alleys, forming a large rectangle that today lies between the Via
Santa Croce and Via Corte d’Appello.9 Thus, it is clear that an organized Jewish
community existed in Cagliari at this time.
5 Luzzati, “Prefazione,” p. x.
6 Cecilia Tasca, Gli ebrei in Sardegna nel XIV secolo. Società, Cultura, Istituzioni (Cagliari:
Deputazione di Storia Patria per la Sardegna, 1992), and Cecilia Tasca, “Gli ebrei nella Sardegna
catalana,” in Sardegna catalana, eds Anna Maria Oliva and Olivetta Schena (Barcelona, 2014),
pp. 173–207.
7 David Abulafia, “Gli ebrei in Sardegna,” in Gli ebrei in Italia, Storia d’Italia, Annali, 11/1, ed.
C. Vivanti (Torino, 1996a), pp. 85–94, and David Abulafia, “I rapporti fra la Sardegna e le isole
Baleari,” in Tasca, Gli ebrei in Sardegna, pp. 133–137.
8 In Sardinia, the Jews were forced to live in neighborhoods, called judaria. However, during
the day they were allowed to freely move in the other districts of the city.
9 Cecilia Tasca, “Sviluppo urbano della ‘Juharia’ del Castello di Cagliari nel Basso Medioevo,”
in Attività economiche e sviluppo urbano nei secoli XIV e XV: atti dell’Incontro di studi (Naples,
1996), pp. 427–446; and Cecilia Tasca, “I quartieri ebraici nella Sardegna medioevale: la
‘juharia’ di Castell de Cáller,” in “Itinerando” senza confini dalla preistoria ad oggi. Studi in
ricordo di Roberto Coroneo, ed. Rossana Martorelli (Perugia, 2015), pp. 837–854.