The capital of the flourishing “Giudicato di Arborea”

Oristano, after Tharros decadency, became the capital of the “Giudicato di Arborea” (district of Arborea), thanks to its enviable geographic position and to the extension of its inhabited center. In order to easily control that piece of coast from the Arab invasions, the Archon of Sardinia entrusted with his powers a delegate, who very soon betrayed him and became independent bearing the title of Giudice (Judge).

In 1070 the “Giudicato di Arborea” had its own well-defined political structure, headed by the Giudice Orzocco I (son of Mariano I), ruling a territory of about 4.500 square kilometres, extended on the centre-northern Sardinia.

The port of Aristanis was a trade center of remarkable interest, as proved by the Pisans and the Genoeses who moved to Tharros aiming to the flourishing port. Initially lined up with Pisa, with the advent of Costantino I, around 1125, the “Giudicato di Arborea” began to support Genoa, since the benifits promised by the Ligurian Maritime Republic were more substantial.

After a long battle for the control of the territory, in 1133 , Pisa and Genoa arrived to a compromise blessed by the Pope, and Sardinia and Corsica were shared. The “Giudicato di Arborea” returned to the Pisans, but the peace only lasted for 5 years, that is when the Giudice Comita III formed a new alliance with the Genoeses and then, he was for this excommunicated. The trial of strength between the two Republics lasted a long time.