What is Alghero known for?

Variety of Catalan introduced in 1372, still mother tongue for roughly 24 percent of residents, taught in some schools and protected by regional law. Sixteenth-century sea bastions ringing the centro storico, defensive towers contemporary with the cathedral, the postcard frame of the old town. Four-kilometer cave system under Capo Caccia, reached by 656 steps down the cliff or by boat from the Alghero marina.

Alghero is a comune in the province of Sassari, Sardinia region of Italy, about 33 kilometers from Sassari.

Sardinia · Sassari

Alghero

The Catalan city of northwest Sardinia, repopulated by Peter IV of Aragon in 1354 and still speaking Algherese Catalan today.

33 km / 21 mi

Nearest hub (Sassari)

42,380

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Alghero sits on the northwestern coast of Sardinia at the head of its own bay, ringed by sixteenth-century sea walls in golden sandstone. The Doria of Genoa founded it in 1102. The Catalan-Aragonese took it in 1353, expelled the Sardinians and Ligurians, and in 1354 Peter IV of Aragon repopulated the town with Catalan settlers. Four centuries of Catalan, then Spanish, rule left a language behind. About 24 percent of the population still has Algherese Catalan as a mother tongue, and 88 percent understand it. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria, started in the sixteenth century in Catalan Gothic and finished in late Renaissance Baroque, dominates Piazza del Duomo with its bell tower. The Bastioni Marco Polo curve along the sea, the original Aragonese defensive ring. Eleven kilometers west, Capo Caccia drops 168 meters to the sea above the Grotta di Nettuno, a four-kilometer karst cave reached by 656 steps from the cliff top or by boat from the marina. The Vermentino and Cannonau vineyards north of the city carry both Città del Vino and Città dell'Olio designations.

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Gallery

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Known for

Cattedrale di Santa Maria
Sixteenth-century Catalan Gothic cathedral with late Renaissance and Baroque interior, three naves, the bell tower a signature of the old town skyline.
Bastioni Marco Polo
Sixteenth-century Aragonese sea walls in golden sandstone with a string of defensive towers, the seaward edge of the centro storico.
Grotta di Nettuno
Four-kilometer karst cave at Capo Caccia, stalactites and underground pools, reached by 656-step Escala del Cabirol or by boat from the marina.
Capo Caccia
Limestone promontory dropping 168 metres to the sea, part of the Porto Conte Natural Park, the western anchor of the Alghero coast.
Centro storico catalano
Walled Catalan old town of narrow streets, churches, and palazzi, where Algherese Catalan is still spoken alongside Italian and Sardinian.
Necropoli di Anghelu Ruju
Pre-Nuragic hypogeum complex nine kilometers north of the city, 38 rock-cut tombs from the Ozieri culture, third and fourth millennia BC.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the season in Alghero. The bay opens, the ferries from Genova and Civitavecchia run full, and the centro storico fills with day-trippers and Catalan visitors who treat the place as a long-lost cousin. July and August are hot and crowded, with Capo Caccia and the Lazzaretto beaches reaching capacity by mid-morning. April, May, and September are the better windows: 22 to 27 degrees, the sea swimmable from mid-May, and the Sant'Anna festa in late July still in front. Off-season the bastioni emptiness becomes the point, with winter light on the stone and the cathedral cloister open to slow walks. The airport handles Ryanair traffic year-round, which makes shoulder months unusually accessible.