The name of Tathari appeared in 1131 on a curial register
As it has often happened in Sardinia, the first time in which the name of Sassari appeared in an official document has been on a curial registry: it was about Jordi de Sassaro, on an act of the year 1131, found in the antique monastery of San Pietro di Silki. Another document dated 1135, reference is made to the church dedicated to Sancti Nicolai de Tathari: Tathari is still to-day called by the veracious people of Sassari in their dialect (the Logudorese matrix has been in part adapted).
The territory, obviously, shows remarkable sings of human passage that could actually lead to four thousand years ago: the sacred altar of Monte d’Accoddi is one of the most important testimonies. Sassari began to take its shape when the populations of the coastal zones of the north Sardinia, scared of the barbaric incursions, decided to move into the hinterland. They all gathered in a village that went up growing, with the passage of centuries. After having reached a respectable dimension, Sassari got the attention even of the superpowers of the time (the Maritime Republics of Pisa and Genoa), that wanted to expand their trades.
At the beginning of XIII the century, the “Giudice” of Torres, Mariano, decided to spend the major part of the year in the dwelling built in Sassari, and he promoted the exchanges with Genoa. The business kept growing and along with it, also the aims of merchants and politicians. A spiral of power's games started off leading even to bloody episodes of violence such as, one of the most famous example, the murder of the young Barisone, Giudice of Torres, succeeded to the father Marian at tender age.
In the second-half of XIII the century, Sassari became a protectorate of Pisa. However, after the defeat during a naval combat, in1288, this Maritime Republic had to yield the city to Genoa. Six years later, a delegation of the Sassarese population went to Genoa in order to establish a “free - Comune” ( an independent municipality), even if warranting alliance with this Republic.
