Abstract

The main objective of this study is the examination of civil architecture in the Catalan town of Alghero during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: the manner and timing of its penetration in a foreign context, how it interacts with the existing, what remains identical to the motherland and how much it is influenced by local customs and constraints. These issues deserve careful consideration in every aspect of civil architecture: spatial, functional, formal and constructive. The analysis of the relationship between Alghero and the other territories of the Crown of Aragon points out that the pure Catalan architecture is the prerogative of a few localized areas.