Alghero is a great seafaring village in Sardinia. It is also known as the little Barcelona since it has preserved the use of the catalan, of which it is a linguistic island. It is the Chief Town of the Riviera del Corallo, name that derives from the fact that in the waters of its rada there is the largest amount of precious coral red of the most valuable quality caught by corallari divers, activities that with processing and sale, for centuries has had a great importance of both economic and cultural, so much so that a branch of coral is inserted in the coat of arms of the town. The name derives from Aleguerium (seaweed), for the considerable amount of Posidonia Oceanica which settles on its sandy coastline.
The Grotta Verde, submerged cave on the promontory of Capo Caccia, has been the subject of repeated visits from the Ancient Neolithic period (VI-V millennium B.C.). For the phase of late Neolithic Age (3500 BC-2700 BC) there are underground tombs, such as the domus de janas in groups or in necropolis, including the necropolis of Anghelu Ruju, belonging to the culture of Ozieri.
The birth of Alghero town is traced back to the XII century, when the noble Genovese family of the Doria was granted to fondarne the first historical nucleus. The strategic position and the presence of a rich aquifer, witnessed by the pits still present in some houses, allowed the growth of the city and ne ratcheted the strategic importance.
On 28 August 1501 the city was conferred the title of royal city. In 1541, the Emperor Charles V came to visit accompanied by admiral Andrea Doria, noting the qualities that made it so attractive in the past, and coining perhaps the famous expression Sed todos caballeros. In 1652 Alghero was struck again by the plague, brought into the city from a ship Catalan. Some of Alghero emigrated toward other areas of the island hoping for salvation, but obtained the effect of spreading throughout the plague, which hit the Sardinia for four years. In 1720 the Kingdom of Sardinia passed to the House of Savoy, without that this had made changes to the tradition of cultural and linguistic diversity of Alghero.
Alghero counts a natural landscape very diverse, from beaches with fine sand to the cliffs with flat stones or very jagged: is appreciable especially the view from the sea, in so far as it is possible to grasp the variety of its coast mixed with vegetation, the typical Mediterranean maquis and the pinewood that often surround ago; very appreciated for its panorama is the promontory of Capo Caccia with its well known cliff in the shape of a sleeping giant that has become one of the symbols of Alghero, together with the precious red coral.