Gulf of Cagliari

The Gulf of Cagliari opens along the southern coast of Sardinia, with the city and harbour of Cagliari on its northern shore. Its wide curve faces the Mediterranean towards North Africa. The harbour served as the principal southern port of the island and a centre of government. Cagliari remained a stronghold of Aragonese power even when Marianus IV of Arborea occupied much of the island in the fourteenth century.

In 1793 a French expedition attacked the gulf, bombarding Cagliari and landing troops near Quartu Sant'Elena. Sardinian defenders repulsed the assault. The defence encouraged demands for a greater share in government, and unrest followed in Cagliari the next year. When revolutionary French armies later drove the Savoyard court from Piedmont, King Charles Emmanuel IV came to Cagliari in 1799.