State Archives of Cagliari

The State Archives of Cagliari is a public archival institution located in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It preserves historical records produced by governmental, judicial, and administrative institutions operating in Sardinia across several centuries. The archive reflects the political and institutional history of the island, which served for long periods as the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia under Catalan-Aragonese, Spanish, Austrian, and Savoyard rule before the unification of Italy. The institution was established in 1332 by Alfonso IV of Aragon, nine years after the Aragonese landing in Sardinia in 1323. Originally located in the Castello district of Cagliari, it functioned as the general archive of the Kingdom of Sardinia, preserving documents produced by the Aragonese administration. In 1618 Philip III of Spain explicitly defined the royal archive as patrimonial. Following the Austrian occupation of Sardinia (1708–1717) during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Kingdom of Sardinia was transferred the to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, who maintained the island's institutions. By royal decree of 10 September 1763, Charles Emmanuel III reorganized the archive as the central and general archive of the island.