Situated in the northwestern coast of Sardinia, this town is in a very propitious position.
In fact Alghero is 300 miles far from Spain, just in front of Barcelona, in the direction of the prevailing winds, the West Wind and the Mistral, but at the same time, it is sheltered from the northern winds by two promontories: Capo Caccia and Punta Giglio.
At its back there is the fertile plain called Nurra. Thanks to these features this area has been inhabited since the most ancient times, as you can see from the ruins that date back to 6000 b. C. and from the large number of "domus de janas" and "nuraghi". Alghero, whose name is supposed to derive from alga (seaweed), was founded in 1102, by the Doria family, with commercial purpose.
In 1283 the Pisans tried to conquer it, but they failed; on the contrary, in 1353, the Aragoneses managed to Capture the town, and, after having expelled the original inhabitants of the city, they settled here and imposed their language and their typical Spanish architecture, that Alghero will never lose, even under Savoy's reign (in 1850 a Catalan language catechism was printed).