THE PRESENCE OF the Crown of Aragon in Sardinia has left a cultural legacy in the memory and identity of Sardinian culture which is still very visible today. This chapter explores this impact across seven centuries.

Identity is shaped by contrasts and disagreements, and it tends to emerge where different groups face each other, often in some context of competitiveness. This occurred in Sardinia, from the arrival of the Catalan-Aragonese in 1323 and through their influence across the island for the next five centuries. Catalan-Aragonese heritage and its historical memory in Sardinia lasted into the contemporary period. Institutionally such heritage includes the exact or almost exact continued use of fiscal and political institutions and offices, such as the viceroy, governors, parliament, and royal chancery. The Catalan-Aragonese governmental structure lasted until 1847, when the so-called Savoyard administrative system was introduced as a result of the fusione or “Perfect Fusion” between the mainland states of Savoy–Piedmont and the hereto distinct Sardinia, long after the House of Savoy took control of the island in 1720.

This half-millennium allows an in-depth study of Catalan cultural influence in Sardinia from the Middle Ages to today, through a comparative analysis of elements of identity existing in the Catalan territories that are similarly found in Sardinia. The Catalan-Aragonese presence in Sardinia and its memory today are considered here mainly from a historical and institutional point of view—although the influences on the arts, language, and traditions are also briefly analyzed. Specifically, we focus on issues of identity among the urban oligarchies in the major Sardinian royal towns and cities, together with offices they held and their family relationships with and as clients of the monarchy and other social elites; parliaments prove to be an invaluable framework for examples.

The characteristics of these urban oligarchies and their willingness to create a Catalan identity in Sardinia are examined in the years immediately following the Catalan-Aragonese conquest. We show how the identity they forged then continues to be felt today, in many respects, its influence seen in Sardinian institutions and culture.

Catalan Influence on Sardinian Identity, Memory, and Cultural Heritage

National identity is a collective feeling based on the sense of belonging to the same nation, and of sharing numerous characteristics that make it different from other nations.