Italian Nation-State, Mining Corridors & Modernization

The unified Italian nation-state and its formation.

1 chapter

1720 - 1861

In 1720, the House of Savoy received Sardinia in exchange for Sicily, creating the Kingdom of Sardinia that would later become the vehicle for Italian unification. From the island's perspective, however, the Savoyard period was one of absentee governance from Turin, heavy taxation, and coastal defense against Barbary piracy. The Fortino di Sant'Ignazio, a late-18th-century casemated fort on Cagliari's Sant'Elia hill, embodies this defensive posture. During the Napoleonic era, the Savoyard king resided in Cagliari for the first time (1799–1814), briefly making the island the kingdom's operational capital. The Pisan-built Torre dell'Elefante (1307) continued to serve in Cagliari's defensive perimeter under Savoyard rule. This era also saw anti-feudal revolts (Su Connottu, 1796) as Sardinian communities resisted feudal obligations that the Savoyards had promised but failed to abolish — a tension between Piedmontese centralization and Sardinian autonomy that would recur.

From 1948

Since 1948, Sardinia has held special autonomous status within the Italian Republic — one of five regions with a constitutional statute that grants legislative power over agriculture, tourism, and cultural heritage. This political framework underpins a contemporary landscape of living traditions that have been revived, reframed, and in some cases reinvented by cultural nationalism and UNESCO recognition. The Mamuthones and Issohadores of Mamoiada march each January 17 (St. Anthony's Day) through Carnival — their pre-Christian origins are unproven, but their documented seasonal placement in the agrarian carnival cycle (carrasegare) is consistent across Barbagia villages. The Boes and Merdules of Ottana, with their ox-mask and herder figures, similarly open on St. Anthony's Day and carry agrarian-blessing meanings interpreted locally as ancestral mediation. Canto a tenore, the polyphonic pastoral singing inscribed by UNESCO in 2008, remains active across Barbagia. S'Ardia at Sedilo (July 6–7), organized by the Associazione Santu Antinu, is documented as a Christian vow race honoring St. Constantine; its midsummer hilltop setting invites speculation about older equine rites, but evidence for continuity is absent. Sa Sartiglia at Oristano, under Gremi custodianship, continues its Aragonese-derived vestizione and star-tilting each pre-Lent. The Cavalcata Sarda (revived 1951) has become a civic identity procession. These are not frozen 'ancient mysteries' but evolving practices whose present forms owe as much to 20th-century revival and heritage policy as to any deeper past.

1324 - 1720

The Crown of Aragon conquered Sardinia from 1324, establishing the 'Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica' as a constituent of the Aragonese confederation. The Battle of Sanluri in 1409 crushed the last Arborean military resistance, and by 1420 the Giudicati were extinguished. Aragonese rule brought Iberian administrative structures, Catalan-language governance, and — crucially for festival history — the equestrian jousting traditions that evolved into Sa Sartiglia. This Oristano carnival, governed since the Aragonese period by the Gremi (artisan guilds), features the vestizione (ritual investiture) of Su Componidori and a star-tilting ride whose documented origin is Iberian; the depth of any older agrarian substrate remains debated among scholars and guild custodians. The most visible Catalan imprint is Alghero (L'Alguer), where the population still speaks Alguerés (a Catalan dialect) and celebrates Holy Week processions with Catalan-language hymns — a living linguistic enclave within Sardinia. The Savoyards took formal control in 1720, but Catalan cultural infrastructure endured.

1050 - 1324

As Byzantine authority receded, Sardinia fractured into four autonomous kingdoms — the Giudicati of Cagliari, Arborea, Gallura, and Torres — each ruled by a giudice (judge) with sovereign legal and military powers. These were genuine states with their own laws, the most famous being the Carta de Logu promulgated by Eleanor (Elianora) of Arborea in the 1390s, a Sardinian-language legal code that remained in force under Aragonese rule until 1427. Pisan and Genoese maritime republics entered as allies, merchants, and ultimately colonizers, importing Romanesque architects who left a cascade of two-toned basilicas across the island. Stand before the basilica of Saccargia (consecrated 1116 by the Giudice of Torres) and you see Pisan-Lombard stonework built at the direct commission of a Sardinian sovereign — a distinct fusion of autonomous governance and imported architectural language. The Giudicati era ended when the Aragonese conquest began in 1324, though Arborea resisted until 1409.