Sassari is stretched out supporting a sloping limestone plateau, at the edge of the plain that rises from the sea to the north, and is the second largest city in Sardinia in terms of number of inhabitants and economic, political and cultural importance.
Capital of the Giudicato de Torres, later of the Republic of Sassari, university seat, section of the archiepiscopal residence and court of appeal, fifth national municipality by extension and secondary island city for its population.
Sassari is a predominantly tertiary economy, which is gradually replaced by the neglect of the last decade of tradition and agricultural activity.
Since the 1950s the city has notably grown due to the strong process of urbanization from the surrounding rural areas. New and modern agglomerations have been added to the old historic center and the nineteenth-twentieth century districts that have not changed the appearance of the city.
Sassari is rich in cultural traditions since the seventeenth century is the seat of the University and has expressed a ruling class that, at times, has been a protagonist in regional and national political life.
Not if you were not aware of the birth of the city, probably in Roman times the territory of Sassari was freed from the shoulders of the "Turris Libisonis", a Roman colony today called Porto Torres.
The current site and the first urban nucleus therefore date back to the Middle Ages. The name of Sassari is found, for the first time, in an old record, the Condaghe di S. Pietro in Silki (monastery today on the outskirts of the city), where, in an act dated 1131, he is named "Jordi de Sassaro", immediately after, in 1135, if we talk about the church "Sancti Nicolai de Tathari" (I end up "Tatari" and still used today in Sardinian to define the city).
The itinerary that attracts the historic center of Sassari and winds along the medieval perimeter, allows a complete perception of the dimension
space of the pre-nineteenth-century city, the route, with departure and return in Piazza Castello, touches on visiting many of the main historical and artistic monuments of the city, visiting the ancient road network that has, in every episode, maintaining original character and functions.
The church of S. Caterina, that of S. Maria di Betlem, the Cathedral, the Rosello fountain, the Ducal Palace and the University Palace, the Tola squares and
Duomo, the streets of the Market, Lamarmora and Vittorio Emanuele II are some
of the most significant stages of this journey.
