Alghero – Sardinia's little Barcelona

Barcelona: Victim of its own popularity

Tourism has not been kind to Barcelona. Thanks to low-cost airlines, cruise tourists and a certain accommodation platform, the city is bursting at the seams. Locals can no longer find affordable housing, and those who can still afford to live in the old town are forced to watch as long-established shops selling everyday necessities give way to an endless array of souvenir shops. No wonder Barcelona, along with cities such as Amsterdam, Venice and Florence, is at the forefront of a movement that is fighting back against overtourism, which is expressed in protest marches and anti-tourist graffiti, among other things.

Alghero — the better Barcelona?

But there is another, secret Barcelona far away from mass tourism. Although it does not have a Gaudí cathedral, it does have a magnificent, fine sandy city beach and an old town with authentic Catalan flair. To discover this gem, affectionately known as ‘Barceloneta’ (Little Barcelona) by its residents, you don't even have to travel to Catalonia, as it is located on the west coast of Sardinia.

Alghero, a Catalan town in Sardinia

To understand this curiosity, we must look back to the year 1354. At that time, Catalans led by the House of Aragon conquered the town, drove out the rebellious inhabitants and settled in the place they named ‘L'Alguer’, which they developed into an important military and trading base. The medieval city fortifications with their seven watchtowers still bear witness to this period, and Alghero has retained its Catalan character to this day, right down to the street signs, which are all bilingual.

A variant of Catalan is still spoken in Alghero, even though the whole of Sardinia fell to the House of Savoy in 1720 and Catalan has not been the official language of the city since then. The customs are also influenced by Catalan. Noteworthy here is the song of the Sibyl as part of the Christmas Mass, a tradition that was once practised throughout the Iberian region and is now only practised in Mallorca and Alghero. Since 2010, it has been included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. The Mystery Procession during Holy Week, whose participants wear white robes, is also part of the Catalan heritage.

Catalan cuisine in Alghero

This heritage is not only evident in the spiritual realm, but also in a very earthly and tangible way in the typical Catalan dishes served in many places, such as cassola de peix, a delicious, strongly spiced fish soup, or polpo alla catalana (octopus salad); even the Crema Bruciata dessert cannot deny its close relationship to the famous Crema Catalana.

So if you decide to skip a trip to ‘big’ Barcelona out of consideration for the locals or your own nerves, you will find a wonderful alternative in Sardinia's ‘little Barcelona’. When friends and colleagues ask you about your destination, you can still simply answer ‘Barcelona’ without lying too much. Because it's a matter of honour: what I've told you about Alghero must remain between us. So that the ‘most beautiful city in Sardinia’, as it is called by many, does not eventually suffer the fate of its big sister.

With a Catalan ‘Adéu’, I bid you farewell for today.

Yours, Joachim Waßmann