Welcome to Cagliari, a city with a soul of salt, rock, water and wind.
The capital of Sardinia and its main gateway from the sea, Cagliari became a city from the time of the Carthaginian settlement, over two thousand five hundred years ago, traces of which remain in the largest Punic necropolis in the Mediterranean: Tuvixeddu (in Sardinian the ‘x’ reads ‘sc’).
Since then, the many dominations and influences that have characterised its history have made Cagliari a stratified patchwork of cultures and influences: from the Roman colony to the medieval Pisan citadel, then through a very long Iberian domination to the Sardinian-Piedmontese kingdom of the Savoys, the first nucleus of the Kingdom of Italy.
This is why Cagliari is Sardinia but is also, above all, Mediterranean.
Domus Kalaritanae is pleased to host you in its splendid city, revealing the history of its most significant monuments and places, certain that, in such a multifaceted city, each of you will find your own dimension.
Description of places by Claudia Caredda Photos by Ilaria Corda and Roberto Murino
QUARTIERE DI CASTELLO
A fortified residence of the aristocracy and rulers of the island throughout the centuries, Castello has towered over the city since 1217 from its hill at centre metres above sea level, guarding some of the most significant monuments of our history: from the Cathedral of Santa Maria to the Palazzo Regio, from the Old City Palace to the Bastion of Saint Remy. A silent and timeless district, it alternates between the narrow and dark streets, overlooked by the palaces of the old nobility, to multiple terraces that will give you some of the most suggestive views of the city and the gulf.
BASTION OF SAINT REMY
Today, the Bastion of Saint Remy is one of Cagliari’s landmarks.
Built between 1901 and 1903 to a design by engineer Giuseppe Costa, it represents the change of pace of a city that from a fortified stronghold, enclosed within its walls and in the hands of the aristocracy, became in the 20th century a large island capital, animated by the enterprising rising middle class. In fact, this large terrace was built above the 16th-century bastions of the Sperone and the Zecca, and immediately became a meeting place for Cagliari society and the point of connection, through its stairways, between the city’s historic lower districts and their ancient Castle.
OTHER CASTLE BELVEDERES
In addition to the splendid panorama you can enjoy from the Saint Remy bastion, we recommend: the terrace of the 16th-century bastion of Santa Croce, from which you can enjoy the sunset; the panoramic Via del Fossario, which, walking along the eastern ridge of the Castle, leads to the Cathedral; the belvedere of Viale Buoncammino; the Mercede Mundula terrace.
CATHEDRAL
Built by the Pisans starting in the 13th century, Cagliari Cathedral is a veritable treasure trove of history and art. From the oldest elements of Pisan manufacture to the Aragonese Gothic, to the majestic baroque chapels, you can read in the face of the Cathedral the passage of centuries, dominations and artistic fashions on the city. Don’t miss its hidden heart: the Crypt of the Martyrs, which houses themortal remains of many early Christian martyrs resurfaced during the excavations ordered by Archbishop Francisco Desquivel in 1615, in order to aspire to the primacy of the diocese of Cagliari over that of Sassari.
PALAZZO REGIO
From the 14th century until the mid-19th century, the royal palace housed the representatives of the various crowns that ruled the island: from Aragon to the Spanish Crown, up to the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the Savoy dynasty. At the end of the 19th century, when its viceregal function ended, the palace became the seat of the Cagliari Provincial Council. Today the palace opens its doors to visitors showing some of its most significant spaces: the ancient reception room, richly decorated at the end of the 19th century to house the Provincial Council, the portrait room, where are kept the portraits of all the Piedmontese viceroys starting with Baron de Saint Remy (1720-1722), drawing rooms and antechambers that still retain their 18th and 19th century furnishings and tell us a glimpse of the life of the reigning aristocracy of the past.
PISAN TOWERS
The Pisan towers, of San Pancrazio and dell’Elefante, stand respectively to the north and south-west of Castello. They are over thirty metres high and represent the strategic defence of the city on the hinterland and the port. Designed in the early 14th century by a Sardinian engineer, Giovanni Capula, they are entirely built in white Bonaria limestone, Cagliari’s symbolic stone,
known for its whiteness to the extent of determining one of Cagliari’s epithets: ‘the white city’. The floors of the two towers, reconstructed in the 20th century on the model of the original ones, were built in wood so that they could be burnt in the event of enemy occupation of the tower, preventing the doors below from opening to external danger.
QUARTIERE MARINA
The Marina quarter, built by the Pisans as a commercial appendix to the Castle, is one of the oldest quarters in the city. In Punic and Roman times, in fact, here were the eastern offshoots eastern offshoots of the city, abandoned in the early Middle Ages following frequent barbarian invasions and then reoccupied only with the creation of the Pisan quarter. Because of its location and vocation, the Marina has always been a lively, multi-ethnic quarter, and a welcoming place for visitors. The row of elegant Art Nouveau palazzi facing Via Roma, with its long porticoed promenade, is one of the city’s best-known ‘postcards’ for those arriving from the sea. Behind these stately palaces, however, hides the most characteristic soul of the district: the narrow alleys that climb from the harbour towards the Castle, dazzling the visitor with their dense perfumes coming from the many small restaurants – especially of seafood cuisine – that line it.
VIA ROMA
Cagliari’s historic living room, Via Roma was built in the second half of the 19th century following the demolition of the bastion that separated the Marina from the sea. Walls, towers and bastions, having abandoned their role as the city’s military stronghold, became in the 19th century an obstacle to its evolution and expansion. They were therefore largely demolished to make way for new roads and urban development areas. The city therefore opened up to the sea and a series of neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau palaces began to be built opposite the port, creating a long theory of porticos. In the early decades of the 20th century, the arcade became the site of the most fashionable cafés and a showcase for the affirmation of the bourgeois class, together with the bastion of Saint Remy and the new town hall. Today, Via Roma is the first postcard for those arriving in Cagliari from the sea. Although less prestigious than it once was, the portico is still a vital crossroads in the city.
PALAZZO BACCAREDDA (Municipal Palace)
Built between 1907 and 1911 on the commission of the mayor to whom it is dedicated (Ottone Baccaredda), the building is an imposing example of eclectic architecture of the early 20th century: it mixes Art Nouveau and neo-Gothic in an elegant synthesis in which its white limestone, a symbol of the city’s geological nature, plays the leading role. The palace, which overlooks Piazza Matteotti (formerly the gardens of the Royal Railways), represents the bourgeois evolution of the city which, having demolished the ancient ramparts that suffocated it, in the 20th century finally looked towards the sea.
QUARTIERE DI STAMPACE
The medieval quarter of Stampace (in Sardinian Stampaxi) takes its name from an ancient Pisan quarter adjacent to the Arno and now disappeared. Today the district comprises Stampace Alto – the oldest core, rising from Via Azuni to the Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio – and Stampace Basso – developed from the Aragonese period and descending to the western part of the port. Historically home to artists and artisans – pintores (painters), plateros (silversmiths) and fusteris (carvers), the district plays a central role in Cagliari’s tradition as the heart of the cult of Sant’Efisio, protector of Sardinia.
CHURCH OF SANT’ANNA
The church of Sant’Anna is, in terms of size, the largest in historical Cagliari. Built from the 18th century onwards in ‘Piedmontese Baroque’ style and with typical Cagliari limestone, Sant’Anna has not enjoyed great fortune over the centuries. For the completion of the great project, in fact, funds were continually lacking, so that the construction of the church dragged on until the 20th century, giving rise to a typical Cagliari saying: ‘Sa Fabbrica de Sant’Anna – or ‘The Factory of Sant’Anna’ – indicates an unfinished work in the city. Completed in the 1940s, the church was hit by bombing in 1943 and was only repaired in the 1950s. Today, it is finally open for worship, although the right bell tower is still missing a bell and clock hands!
Ruins of Santa Lucia
The church of Santa Lucia, whose ruins can be found in the central Via Sardegna, is mentioned in an 11th century document, making it, together with the church of San Saturnino, one of the oldest in the city. But also one of the most unfortunate, however: a 19th-century project, which envisaged the passage in Via Sardegna of an important road linking Stampace to Villanova (and then never realised), led to the destruction of part of the church. Later damaged in the bombings of 1943, the church was demolished practically completely. The ruins, reopened to the public about ten years ago, are now the subject of an archaeological excavation.
VILLANOVA AREA
Villanova is so called because it was the last district in order of construction built by the Pisans during the 13th century. Overlooking the countryside in ancient times, Villanova has been characterised over the centuries by the peasant element of its inhabitants. Today, Villanova is the city’s largest historic quarter, but its ancient boundaries and the walls that encircled it limited its expansion between the Porta dei Calderai (at the entrance of Via Sulis) and the Cavana gate (near the church of San Cesello). Via Garibaldi, which today is one of the most important shopping streets in the city, was located outside the ancient perimeter and, occupied by fields, was called S’arruga de is argiolas (the street of gardens or courtyards) Today, thanks to the pedestrian enhancement of the last fifteen years, Villanova is a lively and pleasant neighbourhood, dotted with typical Cagliari dwellings (‘Is basciu’, or ‘the low’) decorated in Art Nouveau style and once home to humble peasant families.
The district’s two squares, San Domenico and San Giacomo, are a meeting point for the population and visitors, who can enjoy the bars and pubs that line them.
SANCTUARY AND BASILICA OF THE MADONNA DI BONARIA
The ancient hill of Bonaria, located to the east of the city centre, boasts a history stretching back thousands of years. A Punic but above all Roman necropolis, the hill was the protagonist of the Aragonese siege on the Pisan Castle of Cagliari.
In fact, a real castle had been built here, which was used by the Aragonese for the two-year siege and then dismantled. Today, all that remains of the ancient fortress is a tower, reused in the 14th century as a bell tower for the construction of the church of the Madonna della Mercede. Right at the foot of the hill, on the beach in front of it, in 1370 the Mercedari fathers picked up a crate that had arrived from the sea and contained a simulacrum of the Madonna and Child inside. This simulacrum began to be worshipped in this way and Our Lady of the ‘Buen Aire’ – the Spanish name for the hill of Bonaria – soon became the patron saint of sailors and, as her cult spread later throughout the entire Crown of Spain, she was chosen by the conquistadors when they founded the future capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, in the mid-16th century. As the cult of Our Lady of Bonaria grew, it was annexed to the ancient sanctuary of La Mercede, the great Basilica, built from the beginning of the 18th century but only completed in the 1960s. Since 1907, Our Lady of Bonaria has been the highest patron saint of Sardinia together with Sant’Antioco. Her feast day is celebrated on 24 April in both Cagliari and Buenos Aires.
MONUMENTAL CEMETERY OF BONARIA
Opened in 1829, the cemetery of Bonaria represents the first modern cemetery in Sardinia and replaces the many ‘holy lands’ that, leaning against churches, previously dotted the city. Since 2006, the cemetery has become monumental and is used for burials sporadically, now almost completely supplanted by the cemetery of San Michele. A walk in the shade of its cypress trees will reveal a veritable open-air museum, a silent mirror of the city of living and its cultural and social evolution between the 19th and early 20th century. Among the various sculptors who studded this place with works of art, the most notable is Giuseppe Sartorio, an artist of Piedmontese origin who, in the late 19th and early 20th century, executed many masterpieces of funerary art here.
POETTO
The Poetto, with its eight kilometres of coastline, is considered one of the longest city beaches in Europe and is called, for this reason, ‘The Beach of the Hundred Thousand’. Frequented by the people of Cagliari only since the 1920s – when the first bathing establishments were opened – it is now an important place for refreshment and socialising in the city. A pedestrian and bicycle path now runs along the entire shoreline, allowing for pleasant enjoyment. In the evenings, especially in summer, the many kiosks along the beach offer food, entertainment and live music. At the beginning of the shoreline, coming from the city, is the marina of Marina Piccola, on which stands, imposingly, the promontory of the Sella del Diavolo.
SELLA DEL DIAVOLO
At 140 metres high, the Sella del Diavolo (Devil’s Saddle) is the highest point in the city and offers, for those who decide to climb it, a breathtaking view of the entire Gulf of Angels and the city. Preserved by military constraint until the 1990s, the Sella del Diavolo is today an environmental heritage site that offers views and suggestions usually unthinkable for a city. Its name, actually witnessed only in the 20th century (in the 19th century it was known as Monte Falcone), derives from the particular shape that can be seen when observing it from Poetto or Cagliari Castle and that legend has it was created by the fall of Lucifer from his horse as he engaged in a fight with angels to conquer Sardinia.
There are several marked trekking routes on the promontory that allow you to reach the most interesting and scenic spots. There is also a refuge for those who wish to bivouac once they have reached the summit.
MONTE URPINU
The hill, which until 1939 belonged to the Sanjust barons of Teulada, is today a fascinating urban park thanks to its panoramic position that allows one to observe the city on one side and the
salt pans of Molentargius and the Gulf of the Angels. In addition to the green area, dotted with Aleppo pines and equipped with amenities, Monte Urpinu houses a large tennis and padel facility. Its name is mistakenly linked to the planting pines, but derives from ‘mons vulpinus’, due to the ancient presence of numerous foxes.
CRYPT AND REFUGE OF SANTA RESTITUTA
The crypt of Santa Restituta is a rock church linked, since the Middle Ages, to the cult of the Cagliari martyr Restituta, who lived in the 3rd century AD and was persecuted during Diocletian. Since the 17th century, a church has been built above the crypt, which today is entrusted to the Ukrainian Orthodox rite. The crypt is a place full of charm and fascination and has had, in its millennial history, many vocations: from Punic limestone quarry to Roman amphora deposit, passing through medieval underground church until it was used as an air-raid shelter in the 1940s. The most tragic episode of the 1943 bombing of Cagliari is linked to the latter destination: during the air raid on 17 March in fact, the guardian of the shelter had not heard the alarm and had not gone to open the shelter. The eighty or so people huddled outside the shelter were hit full force by a bomb. The dramatic pisode is commemorated by a plaque currently placed outside the crypt.
CHURCH OF SANT’EFISIO
Linked to the cult of Saint Ephisius, patron saint of Sardinia, the church represents a unique place of devotion, deeply rooted in Cagliari’s culture. It stands above the prison where the saint was allegedly tortured before being taken to Nora for martyrdom. In 1655, the saint was invoked during the plague epidemic that was decimating the population. At the beginning of the following year, the disease left the city and the island and from that moment on, the whole of Sardinia paraded every first of May – uninterruptedly – to fulfil the vow made during the plague. The feast of Sant’Efisio is a blaze of colour, devotion and folklore and sees, every year, many traditional costumes parading, representing as many Sardinian towns as possible and villages. The procession starts from the church of Stampace, where the simulacrum, covered in gold donated by the faithful, is carried in an 18th-century chariot through the streets of the city, before making its way to Nora, thirty kilometres from Cagliari, the site of the saint’s martyrdom.
CHURCH OF SAN MICHELE
Cagliari’s most beautiful Baroque church was built thanks to an organic project by the Jesuits who established a novitiate in Stampace. The church, begun in the late 17th century and finished in the first decade of the following century, has a central plan onto which the various chapels, all characterised by the distinct ‘horror vacui’ of the Baroque style, open in a radial pattern. The real jewel of St Michael’s is the sacristy, a Rococo jubilation overlooked by large canvases depicting the eastern missions of the Jesuit friars. At the entrance to the church, a large portico preserves a 16th-century pulpit – belonging to the ancient church of San Francesco in Stampace, now destroyed – built in honour of the visit of Emperor Charles V, who gathered the armies of the Spanish Crown in Cagliari in 1535 to undertake the Battle of Tunis.
Church and Crypt of San Sepolcro
Located in the heart of the Marina, the Church of San Sepolcro was formerly the seat of the Arciconfraternita del SS. Crocifisso dell’Orazione e della Morte (Archconfraternity of the Holy Crucifix of Oration and Death), which was responsible for providing burial places for the poor. The cemetery area pertaining to the church located in the square in front of it and in the crypt, accessed from the central nave of the building. Filled with earth and bones with the decommissioning of the cemetery – coinciding with the opening of the ‘extra moenia’ cemetery of Bonaria in 1829 – the crypt accidentally re-emerged during work carried out in 1996. In the main room of the evocative underground environment, a fresco of the Death Queen, a typical iconography of the Baroque ‘memento mori’ culture, stands out on the vault.
Sacristy of the Holy Sepulchre Church and archaeological area of Sant’Eulalia
The church of Sant’Eulalia is the most important church in the Marina district.
Built during the Aragonese domination, it is dedicated to the patron saint of Barcelona and has, in its bowels, an important testimony of ancient Cagliari: an archaeological zone of 900 square metres with Punic, Roman and early medieval stratifications. In addition to the archaeological area, you can visit the ‘Museum of the Treasure of Sant’Eulalia’, a valuable collection of vestments, paintings and silverware from various churches in the Marina.
CHURCH OF SANT’AGOSTINO
The church of Sant’Agostino, also known as Sant’Agostino Nou (to distinguish it from Sant’Agostino ‘ecciu, or ‘old’) was rebuilt in the second half of the 16th century as the previous building, located in Stampace, stood in the way of the construction of a rampart. The original crypt, which was for over two centuries the burial place of the relics of the famous Saint Augustine of Hippo, still stands on the site of the old church but, instead of the rampart, an early 20th-century building stands on it. The church can be accessed from Via Baylle or from Largo Carlo Felice.
This second entrance is characterised by a courtyard that leads to the church sacristy and was the site of the city’s old market: the so-called Mercato Vecchio, an elegant structure made of trachyte, cast iron and glass, replaced in the 1950s by the modern market of San Benedetto
VILLANOVA AREA
Villanova is so called because it was the last district in order of construction built by the Pisans during the 13th century. Overlooking the countryside in ancient times, Villanova has been characterised over the centuries by the peasant element of its inhabitants. Today, Villanova is the city’s largest historic quarter, but its ancient boundaries and the walls that encircled it limited its expansion between the Porta dei Calderai (at the entrance of Via Sulis) and the Cavana gate (near the church of San Cesello). Via Garibaldi, which today is one of the most important shopping streets in the city, was located outside the ancient perimeter and, occupied by fields, was called S’arruga de is argiolas (the street of gardens or courtyards) Today, thanks to the pedestrian enhancement of the last fifteen years, Villanova is a lively and pleasant neighbourhood, dotted with typical Cagliari dwellings (‘Is basciu’, or ‘the low’) decorated in Art Nouveau style and once home to humble peasant families. The district’s two squares, San Domenico and San Giacomo, are a meeting point for the population and visitors, who can enjoy the bars and pubs that line them.
CHURCH AND CLOISTER OF SAN DOMENICO
The church of San Domenico, with the adjoining Dominican convent, is the most important building of worship in Villanova. Heavily damaged by bombing in 1943, it was rebuilt in modernist style in the 1950s, preserving part of the ancient structure in today’s crypt. The cloister, which partly survived the war and partly rebuilt, has two original arms decorated in
splendid Gothic style. In the centre, the ancient well persists, the heart of the autonomy of the monastic complex that, in the past, produced everything indispensable to the life of the Dominicans. The church also housed, for a few decades, the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition.
PIAZZA SAN GIACOMO
Piazza San Giacomo, one of Villanova’s main squares, is overlooked by three churches: on the left, the church of the same name, with its high 15th-century bell tower and neoclassical façade, designed by Gaetano Cima in the mid-19th century; in the centre, the small Oratorio delle Anime, the ancient seat of the Confraternita delle Anime del Purgatorio (Brotherhood of the Souls in Purgatory); on the right, the Church of the SS. Crocifisso, with its ‘Carabiniere hat’ façade, typical of the Piedmontese baroque style that spread in Cagliari between the 17th and 18th centuries; on the right, the Church of the SS. 18th century. The latter is the seat of the Confraternity of the Holy Crucifix, which is responsible for organising the rites of Holy Week, which are very much felt in the Villanova district. Cagliaritan Holy Week is characterised by the strong dramatic component of the processions, typical of Iberian culture, and by the chants of the Villanova ‘cantores’, all inhabitants of the neighbourhood and coming from the parishes of San Giacomo and San Giovanni.
CHURCH OF SAN SATURNINO
San Saturnino, dedicated to the city’s patron saint, is one of the oldest churches in Sardinia along with San Giovanni del Sinis and Sant’Antioco. Founded in the 5th century AD, it became a very important centre for the production of sacred texts. Initially, the building had a Greek-cross plan with a central dome, like all Byzantine-influenced churches that had St Sophia of Constantinople as their reference. In the 11th century, the church passed into the hands of the Victorine monks from Marseilles, called by the Pope to Sardinia to evangelise a land that, frequently hit by Saracen incursions, was in danger of becoming Islamised. The monks soon also became the monopoly holders of salt production. The Vittorini also modified the layout of the church, which was, however, disfigured in the 17th century by the removal of material for the construction of the cathedral, losing the nave and side arms. A large cemetery area developed around the church in the 5th century, which was excavated during the ‘race for relics’ in 1615. (see CRIPTA DELLA CATTEDRALE DI CAGLIARI)
MUNICIPAL ART CENTRE EXMA’
he city’s old slaughterhouse, built in neo-Gothic style in the second half of the 19th century, was active until the 1990s, when renewed hygiene requirements and urban expansion led to the necessary closure of the old facility and the construction of a more modern and decentralised slaughterhouse. After careful restoration, the Exmà reopened in the 1990s as a municipal art centre and, since then, has continuously hosted exhibitions, cultural and musical events. Radio X, Cagliari’s historic broadcaster, is also present inside, running the centre’s bar and organising numerous musical and cultural evenings during the week.
MONUMENTS TO THE FALLEN, PARK OF THE REMEMBRANCES and CHURCH OF SAN LUCIFERO
Right in front of the Exmà stands the Parco delle Rimembranze, dedicated to the martyrs of the Foibe, and overlooking Via Sonnino with its monument to the fallen of the First World War designed by architect Ubaldo Badas at the height of Fascism. The Parco delle Rimembranze also overlooks the Church of San Lucifero. You have understood correctly: in Cagliari Lucifer is a saint! But not the rebellious angel cast out by God, but a bishop who lived in the early Christian era and whose name, in contrast to the biblical figure, means nothing other than ‘bringer of light’.
MICHELE CASTLE
The Castle of San Michele has stood on the hill of the same name for seven hundred years. Built from the Aragonese occupation of Cagliari (1324-1326), the castle was the residence of the noble and powerful Carroz family. In the 15th century, it was probably one of the most sumptuous residences in Sardinia. The castle’s most famous owner was Violante Carroz, the only daughter of Count Giacomo, from whom she acquired an enormous fiefdom extending from Decimo to Ales and Quirra. It was precisely in Quirra that Violante established her favourite residence, thus decreeing, from the end of the 15th century, the decline of the manor house in Cagliari. After alternating fortunes and different uses (from powder magazine to lazaret, from defensive bulwark to Navy radio centre) in the 20th century, the castle was abandoned and left in a state of ruin. In the late 1980s, after a major restoration, the Castello San Michele Municipal Art Centre was built, which now hosts exhibitions, events and ceremonies. The park around the hill, on the other hand, has been planted with Aleppo pines since the end of the 19th century and is a place of recreation for sports enthusiasts and families.
DISTRICTS OF SAN BENEDETTO AND GENNERUXI
The districts of San Benedetto and Genneruxi are two modern neighbourhoods that have emerged since the Second World War, a period of strong demographic and economic growth for the city. They rise outside the perimeter of historic Cagliari, but close to it and well connected. The neighbourhood of San Benedetto developed around the Mercato Civico, the flagship of the fish trade, which in the 1950s replaced the old Mercato Vecchio that stood on Largo Carlo Felice.
The Genneruxi district is a quiet and pleasant residential area and has within it one of the largest parks in the city: Monte Urpinu. Its name, which in Sardinian means ‘gate of the cross’, probably derives from the ancient presence of a column, surmounted by a cross, that indicated the access to the city for those arriving from Quartu S.E.
CHURCH OF SAINTS GIORGIO AND CATERINA
The futuristic Church of Saints Giorgio and Caterina rises at the foot of Monte Urpinu and replaces, since the early 1960s, the ancient church of the same name that stood in the Marina and was destroyed by bombing in 1943. The church is the seat of the Arciconfraternita di Genovesi, an important lay institution with religious purposes that arose at the end of the 16th century in Cagliari to bring together members of the Genoese community, which was very conspicuous in the city. The Arciconfraternita is still operational today and in 1999 it opened, next to side of the church, a museum where all the vestments and treasures recovered from the destroyed ancient church are on display.
DISTRICT OF SANT’AVENDRACE
The district of Sant’Avendrace, an ancient fishing village, begins with Sa Cruxi Santa (in Sardinian, the Holy Cross), a column surmounted by a cross that represented, in Spanish times, the limit of the city of Cagliari. The village therefore stood just outside the city’s jurisdictional boundary and developed along the ancient Roman road that connected Karales to Turris Libisonis (Porto Torres). Its origins are very ancient, in fact, here stood the Punic settlement – the first Cagliari Urbana – and part of the ancient settlement of the Judicial capital of Santa Igia. The heavy post-war urbanisation, which made it one of the city’s most densely populated districts, together with San Michele and Sant’Elia, has distorted its conformation, but it still possesses some corners of immense charm that are now beginning to be exploited.
CAVE OF THE VIPER
The cave of the Vipera is a Roman funerary monument dating back to the 1st century A.D. of great charm, especially for having preserved to this day no less than 16 dedicatory inscriptions, both in Latin and Greek, indicating that the Roman patricians living in Cagliari had a discrete literary culture. The monument is dedicated to Attilia Pomptilla and was built by her husband Lucius Cassius to commemorate the painful loss of his wife. Later, Lucius Cassius and freedmen of the couple were also buried inside. The monument’s name derives from two serpents carved in the frieze above the tomb, probably representing the Genius and the Junius, the components of male and female genius on which Roman marriage rested. The monument stood on the road leading out of the Roman city and represents one of the many tombs, now disappeared or incorporated into buildings, that represented the western necropolis of Roman Carales.
