Sassari 349
the chief political post, the podestà, though leaving some autonomy to the
local ruling classes, who were represented by the Council of Elders and the
Senior Council, comprised of those who enjoyed the privilege of citizenship,
i.e. the populus of Sassari.32 With the consolidation of the commune in the
second half of the thirteenth century, statutes were drawn up that regulated
every aspect of the city’s life by uniting the institutions of the commune and
the giudicati. Of the two oldest codices to come down to us, one is undated and
in Latin, while the other, from 1316, is in Logudorese Sardinian, with changes
and additions made under the first Genoese podestà, Cavallino de Honestis
(Fig. 13.8)33
32 On the political and administrative organization of the commune, see Mattone and
Tangheroni, Gli Statuti Sassaresi.
33 The recent critical edition of the statutes appears in Soddu and Strinna, Il Condaghe di
San Pietro in Silki.
Figure 13.7 Aerial view of the Catalonian late Gothic facade of San Nicola Cathedral—
note the Romanesque bell tower at the back.
With kind permission of the Archaeological
Superintendence of Sardinia, Italian Ministry of Arts,
Culture and Tourism.