Sas'sari

Sas'sari, a city in the north-west of Sardinia, ranking next after the capital Cagliari, which it has indeed attempted to supplant as the capital; it stands 12 miles by rail from the Gulf of Asinara, where its port, Porto Torres (pop. 2034), is situated, and 162 miles N. by W. of Cagliari. A prosperous-looking town, with both old and new houses, embosomed in orange and olive groves, it has a cathedral (1531), an old castle (1327-31), a university (1677, reopened in 1766) with about 120 students, a museum of Roman antiquities, a natural history collection, and a library (1556) of 25,000 vols., and is the seat of an archbishop and of several of the old Sardinian nobles. There is a busy trade in grain, olive-oil, cheese, and hides. Pop. (1881) 31,596; (1895) 38,000.