Alghero 379
couple, Jacob and Bet Bassach.54 The Bassach house was situated between the
homes of two Christians, which is a significant clue for interpreting relations
between the Christian and Jewish community in this period, as well as the de-
mographic character of the Jewish quarter.
In 2008, another large area being excavated beneath the Fortress Pigafetta
yielded remains of buildings on whose rubble some of the monastery’s ram-
parts had been erected; the buildings were aligned with the axis of the ancient
Carrer de les Monges (the present Via Ospedale), underscoring the original
development of the quarter and thoroughfare prior to the insertion of the
new monastery.55 In one case, what was probably the courtyard or garden of
Gernimini Murru, whose house was denant la Muralla Real, was identified.
Occupying around 100 square meters, it was constructed in the fifteenth cen-
tury with architectural elements (stone pillars) that might point to a privileged
commission, of which traces may be found in written sources.
The latter rediscovery confirms the extension of the Jewish quarter, and in
the adjoining areas, and demonstrates how the construction of the monastery
represented a caesura in the urban layout of this part of the city. Written and
archaeological sources both indicate that some buildings in this part of the
old Jewish quarter were still inhabited in the early seventeenth century, while
others were abandoned a short time after the expulsion of the Jews from the
Catalan city. Indeed, archaeological data drawn from the excavation of the
monastery’s courtyard suggest that the demolition of the buildings discovered
beneath the monastery took place in the late fifteenth century, which coin-
cides with the moment the Jews were expelled from Catalan territory. A sealed
well, which offered archeo-botanical documents of extraordinary interest for
the reconstruction of the agrarian landscape and dietary customs of the late
fifteenth century, was also discovered.
After the 1492 expulsion of the Jews, the Jewish quarter of Alghero was in
a general state of decay, although buildings and ruins were still in use. It is
possible that the patchy habitation of the Jewish quarter in the sixteenth cen-
tury reflected the different attitudes that the Jews of Alghero assumed when
confronted with the obligation to convert to Christianity, which determined
the continuity or end of their residence in the city. It is certain that wealthy
Jewish families like the Carcassona stayed in the city in the sixteenth century,
well beyond the date of the edict of expulsion; in 1515, Francesco Carcassona
54 Tasca, Ebrei e società in Sardegna, doc. 30.
55 Milanese, “Del Quarter al Monestir”; Milanese, Padua, and Zizi, “Dal quartiere medievale
al Monastero.”