346 Rovina
giudicato of Torres. As a result of the steady increase in commerce, people from
both the surrounding region and, more importantly, merchants from Tuscany
and Liguria, were attracted to the region and gradually turned Torres into a
port for their own trading activities.
Historians agree that Sassari’s advantageous position within the territory’s
new road network was the cause of its rapid development. It became the prin-
cipal place for selling products from the island, as well as the more lucrative
and more frequent sale of imported goods.26 In this regard, the city of Sassari
appears to have been the product of the profound transformations that oc-
curred in the surrounding area. It effectively represented the “new world,”
being born of both the local mercantile class and that of the continent, but
26 For an overview of historical sources of medieval Sassari, see Maria Immacolata Roggio,
“Spazi urbani e società nella Sassari del XIV secolo,” in Meloni, Sinmbula, and Soddu,
Identità cittadine, pp. 113–114, note 2.
Figure 13.6 View of the cathedral’s interior tombs.
With kind permission of the Archaeological
Superintendence of Sardinia, Italian Ministry of Arts,
Culture and Tourism.