506 Cadinu
in Islamic culture on the island is an even more recent phenomenon.22 Until
about 25 years ago, archaeologists also ignored the medieval city, but the his-
torical privileging of “classical” archaeological studies, to the detriment of the
Middle Ages, is increasingly changing.
2 Rural Settlement and Urban Islamic Culture
The formation of early medieval settlements in Sardinia, especially in the
south-central part of the island, came about following urban models that can
probably be traced to historic periods prior to the eleventh century outside
Italian and European contexts.23 Thus, here it is especially relevant to refer to
a broader Mediterranean context, particularly that of North Africa, in light of
the strong structural and physical similarities between its culture and that of
Sardinia.
First, road organization in early medieval Sardinian villages is modeled on
Islamic medinas, with a tree-like organic structure whose main roads and sec-
ondary branches lead to blind alleys or common courtyards (Fig. 19.2). Second,
the dwellings originally had no openings onto the public street, except for a
large door.24 The typology in Sardinia’s plains and hilly areas is the courtyard
22 Scholars once considered Islamic material culture to be exceptional and often displaced
from its historical contexts. Recently, however, it has received increasing attention mainly
by archaeologists. After local readers judged Mohamed Mustafa Bazama’s 1988 book as
unhelpful and unprofessional (Mohamed Mustafa Bazama, Arabi e Sardi nel medioevo
(Cagliari, 1988)) the exhibition “Moriscos” shed light on new evidence of the material her-
itage of the Islamic cultural and anthropological legacies. See Maria Francesca Porcella
and Marcella Serreli, eds, Echi della presenza e della cultura islamica in Sardegna, Catalogo
della mostra, Cagliari Cittadella dei Musei, maggio-settembre 1993 (Cagliari, 1993); Fabio
Pinna, “Le testimonianze archeologiche relative ai rapporti tra gli Arabi e la Sardegna nel
medioevo,” Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea 4 (2010), pp. 11–37. Alex
Metcalfe, The Muslims of Medieval Italy (Edinburgh, 2009): on Sardinia, pp. 74–75.
23 The very names of the different villages—including Ploaghe, Codrongianus, Quartu or
Suelli—appear in the documents from the eleventh to twelfth centuries as Condaghi or
donations. Their original urban form is unknown, but could precede that era; only typo-
logical comparisons can help date their structures. See Cadinu, Urbanistica medievale,
pp. 15–16.
24 Enrico Guidoni has suggested a general methodology for the interpretation of the Islamic
impact on urbanism in southern Italian regions; see “La componente urbanistica islamica
nella formazione delle città italiane,” in Gli arabi in Italia. Cultura, contatti e tradizioni,
eds Francesco Gabrielli and Umberto Scerrato (Milan), pp. 575–597. Dead-end streets are
considered to be characteristic of Islamic settlements in the Mediterranean, as in Sicily;
see Enrico Guidoni, ed., Vicoli e cortili. Tradizione islamica e urbanistica popolare in Sicilia