Nuovi elementi di Storia Urbana nel regno di Sardegna: dalla fondazione di Bonaria al popolamento catalano di Castel di Cagliari

Abstract

During the war against Pisa for the dominion of Sardinian Kingdom, the Catalans established their first settlement on the island in a site until then uninhabited, originally a military camp called Bonaria. It developed rapidly and very soon had a dense population of inhabitants, emigrants from the Kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon. Alfonso's plan, heir to the Aragonese throne, was to reinforce the anti-Pisan function of Bonaria, in order to provoque an economic crisis and a subsequent withdrawal of the enemies from Castel di Cagliari.
According to sources, it is possible to reconstruct the evolution of the town-planning policy of Bonaire until the conquest of Castel di Cagliari, when Alfonso decided to populate the pisan castrum and accompanied this project with a program to boost the economic activity in the port of Lapola, through a privilege system; indeed within the Catalans Castel di Cagliari carried out a mainly defensive-political and commercial role. The research offers also a new contribution of the Sardinian urban history; in fact, it analyses the project of Lapola's foundation and the systematic catalanization of life standards.