Sights in Alghero
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Grotta di Nettuno
A vertiginous 654-step staircase descends 110m of sheer cliff to the Grotta di Nettuno, an underground fairyland of stalactites and stalagmites. If you don’t fancy the staircase, there are ferries from Alghero – Traghetti Navisarda, departing hourly between 9am and 5pm from June to September, and four times daily in the rest of the year. Otherwise, there’s a daily bus from Via Catalogna (€2, 50 minutes) which departs Alghero at 9.15am and returns at midday. From June to September, there are two extra runs at 3.10pm and 5.10pm, returning at 4.05pm and 6.05pm.
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Museo Diocesano d'Arte Sacra
In the grand spaces that were once the Oratorio del Rosario is the cathedral museum. It houses a good collection of religious art including silverware, statuary, paintings and wood carving. A ghoulish touch is the reliquary of what is claimed to be one of the innocenti (newborn babies slaughtered by Herod in his search for the Christ child). The tiny skull is chilling, but apparently it appealed to Alghero artist Francesco Pinna, who received it from a Roman cardinal in the 16th century. The low, flat arch of the former chapel is clearly inspired by the Catalan Gothic style.
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Piazza Civica
Piazza Civica is just inside the Port a Mare (Sea Gate) and was once the administrative heart of Alghero. This busy, uneven square is still faced by reminders of Alghero's late-medieval splendour. It was from the window of the Gothic mansion Palazzo d'Albis that Charles V leaned out during his 1541 stay to declare in generous mood, 'You are all knights.'
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Cattedrale di Santa Maria
Overlooking Piazza Duomo, the oversized Cattedrale di Santa Maria is an odd mishmash of Moorish, baroque, Renaissance and other influences. Of greater interest is the campanile around the back, a fine example of Catalan-Gothic architecture.
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Chiesa di San Michele
Along Via Carlo Alberto is a church whose main feature is its majolica dome, typical of churches in Valencia, another former Catalan territory. The present tiles were laid in the 1960s, but this doesn't detract from the visual pleasure.
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Torre Porta a Terra
Torre Porta a Terra was once one of Alghero’s two main gates. It now houses a small multimedia museum dedicated to the city’s past and a terrace with sweeping, 360-degree views.
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Mare Nostrum Aquarium
The Mare Nostrum Aquarium is Sardinia's only aquarium. It's a good diversion for kids, with quite a variety of fishy elements from piranhas and leopard sharks to seahorses and reptiles.
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Bastione della Maddalena
To the north of the old town, the Bastione della Maddalena, with its like-named tower, forms the only extant remnant of the city's former land battlements.
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Chiesa di San Francesco
On the old town’s main street, the Chiesa di San Francesco hides some beautiful 14th-century cloisters behind an austere stone facade.
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Quatre Cantonades
This intersection has history. For centuries day-labourers would gather here in the hope of finding work. It is near the Chiesa Di San Michele.
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Torre di San Giovanni
Torre di San Giovanni is a tower that has been turned into a multimedia history display on Alghero (closed at the time of writing).
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