Cagliari's citadel quarter began as a Pisan fortress in the 13th century, when Pisa controlled trade across the western Mediterranean and transferred the seat of civil, military and religious power here from the old Judicate capital.
Two towers, San Pancrazio and dell'Elefante, and long stretches of Spanish-reinforced walls still define its skyline, and inside them the Pisan-Romanesque cathedral, remade in Baroque between the 17th and 18th centuries, hides underground crypts holding the relics of Cagliari's martyrs. The Bastione di Saint Remy, built later as a monumental terrace, is now the quarter's grand public balcony, its wide steps and porticoed gallery looking straight out over the gulf and, on clear days, the pink shimmer of distant flamingo lagoons.
