The bastions and the Spanish towers in Alghero

In the old-town center of Alghero the evidences of the Aragonesians and of the Spanish domination are still numerous, starting with the Bastions that look over the port and the Marco Polo seafront, continuing with the towers that surround the historical center, among which the tower of Sulis on the homonym square (during the Middle Age it was called tower of the Sperone Reale- Royal Crag- while today it takes its name from the patriot of Cagliari Vincenzo Sulis, who was locked up in it, with the charge of conspiracy in 1799, and he remained there for twenty-one years, until he was pardoned by the king Carlo Felice. Sulis spent the last years of his life in La Maddalena), the tower of Porta a Terra (or of the Portàl, as it was called during the Ancient Age, when it was the main entrance for the people who came from Sassari), the towers of San Giovanni (today it hosts the virtual Museum of the History of Alghero) and of San Giacomo (that had a circular shape like the others, but it was transformed in an octagonal-shaped tower in 1626).

Alghero, founded in the XII century by the genoese family of the Doria, was forced to surrender to a long assault of the Aragonesians, that entered into the fortified city on the 31th August 1353. In the following years many people from the Catalogna came and put down roots and imposed their culture, beginning from their languages. Alghero is one of the seven royal cities of Sardinia, together with Cagliari, Sassari, Oristano, Bosa, Castelsardo and Iglesias.

The long permanence of Aragonesians and Spanish has left many towers scattered along the coast, like the tower of the Porticciolo and those of the zone of Porto Ferro: Torre Negra, Torre Bianca, Torre Bantine Sale. Even larger is the tower of the Bulo, built on the promontory of Capo Caccia in the XVII century.