The State Archive in Cagliari was set up in 1332 by King Alfonso IV of Aragon, inside the Palazzo Regio of the Castello di Cagliari. It was the general archive for the Regnum Sardiniae and preserves all the documents produced by the Aragonese administration. Its history is linked to political and institutional events deriving from the chain of dominations on the island by the Catalan-Aragonese, the Spanish, Austrians and House of Savoy.
A decisive change came in 1847. Following the “merger” of Sardinia with the House of Savoy, the Archive’s status changed from general to provincial. This was followed by the need to preserve papers from abolished offices at the Archive: as a result, the documentation from the Spanish and House of Savoy period was grouped into a single archive known as Regi Archivi.
Following the Unity of Italy, the institute in Cagliari fell under the control of the Interior Ministry, thus becoming, to all intents and purposes, a State Archive with provincial jurisdiction. Since 1975, it has been an associated organisation of the Ministry for Culture.
The building currently housing the Archive dates back to the 1920s. At that time, it was one of the first and esteemed examples of post-unification archival construction. From a style point of view, it falls within the parameters of eclectic architecture.
The archival collections in this documentary heritage cover 9 km of shelving. The formation of the historical unit began under Aragonese occupation (1323), with the establishment of the Regnum Sardiniae. From the Unification of Italy onwards, the Archive increased its heritage with the periodical deposit of papers from the outlying public offices. Furthermore, it has a considerable collection of notary documents, more than 10,000 pieces, created from the XV century onwards. There is also a collection of parchments from different places (XIV – XIX centuries) and important private family and individual archives acquired through donation, sale or inheritance.
