296 Milanese
the use of the loggia surmounted by blind arcades (Fig. 11.10). Other Doria for-
tifications were, in turn, erected inland, such as Casteldoria on the Coghinas, a
natural border of Anglona or Monteleone, in a strategic position on the Temo
(Fig. 11.11), Sardinia’s only navigable river, which had a seigniorial port at its
disposal on the not so distant coast. It was here that the dominus Brancaleone
allowed the abbot of the Ligurian monastery of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte
(where all the most illustrious members of the Doria consort were buried be-
tween the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) to build a church inside the castle
in 1272. Monteforte-Mondragone, built by Barisone Doria and conquered by
the Pisans in 1275–1279, was, in turn, granted control over other strategic eco-
nomic resources, such as the important mining district of Argentiera, while
other citadels, such as those of Roccaforte (Giave) and Capula (Siligo), were
given control of the island’s principal north-south conduit.
Archeological investigations conducted at sites in the present cities of
Alghero, Castelgenovese, Bosa, and Monteleone have been conducted in ac-
cordance with the methods of urban archaeology. To date, stratigraphic exca-
vations in the area of the residential palazzo inside the citadels of Monteleone,
Bosa, Alghero, and Castelsardo have not revealed traces of earlier medieval set-
tlements—constructed either of wood or stone—which may have been oblit-
erated by the later seigniorial establishment; even the oldest sections generally
Figure 11.9 Castelsardo or Castelgenovese (today), from the sea.