Sassari is the second city for importance, politics and inhabitants (about 120000) in Sardinia. It is situated in the northern part, on a large calcareous tableland and its economy is mosty based on the tertiary sector.
This area has been inhabited since the Neolitic age and it was quite populated during the Roman Conquest, when the colony of Turris Libisonis (Porto Torres) was at the height of its glory; but it is in I 131 that the name of Sassari is quoted for the first time in an official register.
The city was founded by the people that left Turris Libisonis, in order escape from the barbarian raids.At the beginning of the XIII century, under the administration of the Judges of Torres, Sassari went through a period of rapid growth, and it became a point of referente for the contacts with Genova and the italian peninsula.Then it passed into the Pisan’s hands and, after the battle of Meloria, under Genova domination; in this years some city statutes were issued.
Even under the Aragonese government the city kept on growing, while, in 1527, it was conquered by a French expedition, but only for a short time. In the XVIII century it passed under the Austriac domination, until 1720, when, under the Savoy, it became pa-t of the Sardinian-Piemontese Reign.
From 1793 to 1802 Sassari had been the centre of the
antifeudal revolts. In 1855, because of a cholera epidemie, the walls of the city had been knocked down.