Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from Aleguerium, which is a mediaeval Latin word meaning "stagnation of algae" (Posidonia oceanica). The population is noted for having retained the language of the Catalan rulers from the end of the Middle Ages, when Sardinia was part of the Crown of Aragon; hence, Alguerese (the Catalan dialect spoken there) is officially recognized as a minority language. Alghero is the third university center in the island, coming after Cagliari and Sassari. It hosts the headquarters of the Università degli Studi di Sassari's Architecture and Design department. In 2012 it was the 10th most visited city by tourists in Italy. History The area of today's Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times. The Ozieri culture was present here in the 4th millennium BC (Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju), while the Nuraghe civilization settled in the area around 1,500 BC. The Phoenicians arrived by the 8th century BC and the metalworking town of Sant'Imbenia – in the area of later Alghero –, with a mixed Phoenician and Nuragic population, engaged in trade with the Etruscans on the Italian mainland. Due to its strategic position on the Mediterranean Sea, Alghero had been developed into a fortified port town by 1102, built by the Genoese Doria family. The Dorias ruled Alghero for centuries, apart from a brief period under the rule of Pisa between 1283 and 1284. Alghero's population later grew because of the arrival of Catalan colonists. In the early 16th century, Alghero received papal recognition as a bishopric and the status of King's City (ciutat de l'Alguer) and developed economically. Historically, the city was founded in the early twelfth century between 1102 and 1112, when the noble Doria family of Genoa was allowed to build the first historical nucleus into an empty section of the coast of the parish of Nulauro in Judicature of Torres (Sassari). For two centuries it remained in the orbit of the Maritime Republics, first and foremost the Genoese, apart from 1283 to 1284 when the Pisans were able to control it for a year. It is plausible that at this time the town shared, given its commercial and multi-ethnic nature, a language similar to the nascent Sassarese. The village was conquered by force by the Crown of