Cagliari is the capital city of the Italian island of Sardinia. It’s known for the hilltop Castello, a medieval walled quarter situated high over the rest of the town. Architectural highlights include the 13th-century Cagliari Cathedral. Housed in a former arsenal, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari displays bronze objects, Roman ceramics and artifacts from the Nuragic age to the Byzantine era.
Cagliari (Sardinian: Casteddu; Latin: Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 155,000 inhabitants, while its metropolitan city (including Cagliari and 16 other nearby municipalities) has more than 431,000 inhabitants. According to Eurostat, the population of the Functional urban area, the commuting zone of Cagliari, rises to over 476,000. Cagliari is the 26th largest city in Italy and the largest city on the island of Sardinia.
The port of Cagliari is divided in two sector, the old port and the new international container terminal. The port system of Cagliari-Sarroch is the third for freight traffic in Italy with a movement of about 38 million tons in 2017. Cagliari has scheduled services by passenger ship to Civitavecchia, Naplesand Palermo. In Cagliari there are also two other small touristic ports, Su Siccu (Lega Navale) and Marina Piccola.
The city is served by the Cagliari-Elmas International Airport, located a few kilometres from the centre of Cagliari. It is the 13th busiest aeroport in Italy by passengers traffic with around 4,370,000 passengers in 2018. Sardinia has also an airport in Olbia. A railway line connects the city to the airport; walkways join the railway station to the air terminal. The terminal is also connected to the city by highway SS 130 and by a bus service run by the ARST company to the central bus station in Matteotti square, in the centre of the Cagliari city. Cagliari Elmas Airport (IATA: CAG, ICAO: LIEE) is an international airport located in the territory of Elmas, near Cagliari, on the Italian island of Sardinia, offering private jet charter flights and helicopter transfer services.
Tourism in Cagliari, Italy
Cagliari is one of the "greenest" Italian cities. Every inhabitant of Cagliari has access to 87.5 square metres (942 sq ft) of public gardens and parks. Monte Urpinu Park, the most wooded, is a low hill covered by a pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) and evergreen oak (Quercus ilex L.) forest with a dense Mediterranean maquis of mastic (Pistacia lentiscus L.), juniper (Juniperus phoenicea L.), Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera L.), wild olive (Olea europaea L. ssp. europaea, var. sylvestris) and tree spurge (Euphorbia dendroides L.). It extends for about 25 hectares (62 acres). The main beach of Cagliari is the Poetto. It stretches for about 8 kilometres (5 mi), from Sella del Diavolo ("Devil's Saddle") up to the coastline of Quartu Sant'Elena. Poetto is also the name of the district located on the western stretch of the strip between the beach and Saline di Molentargius ("Molentargius's Salt Mine").
Another smaller beach is that of Calamosca near the Sant'Elia district. On the coast between Calamosca and Poetto beaches, among the cliffs of the Sella del Diavolo, lies Cala Fighera, a small bay.
Cagliari is close to other seaside locations such as Santa Margherita di Pula, Chia, Geremeas, Solanas, Villasimius and Costa Rei.