About Alghero, Italy (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Alghero is a town of about 42,000 inhabitants (down from 54,300 inhabitants since early 20th century) in Italy. It lies in the province of Sassari in north-western Sardinia.

The area of today's Alghero was settled since pre-historical times. The so-called Ozieri culture was present here in the 4th millennium BCE while the nuraghe civilization was present from around 1500 BC for, and traces of Phoenician buildings have been found not far from the city.

Alghero was founded around 1102 by the Genoese Doria family, as a fortified port. The Doria ruled it for centuries, apart from a brief period under the rule of Pisa (1283-1284). In 1353 it was captured by the Crown of Aragon, and could later grow thanks to the arrival of Catalan colonists: in the early 16th century Alghero received the status of King's City (ciutat de l'Alguer) and developed economically.

The Catalano-Aragonese were followed by Habsburg Spain, whose dominion, ended in 1702, brought some decadence to the city. In 1720 Alghero and Sardinia were handed over to Piedmont. Around 1750 a wide channel was excavated to improve the defensive stand of the peninsula. In 1821 famine led to a revolt of the population, which was bloodily suppressed. At the end of the same century Alghero was de-militarized and, during the Fascist era, part of the surrounding marshes was reclaimed and the suburbs of Fertilia and S.M. La Palma were founded, although the presence of malaria in the countryside could be overcome only in the 1950s. During World War II (1943) Alghero was bombed, its historical center suffering heavy damage.

After the end of the war Alghero became a popular tourist resort.

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