Identità locale ed eredità culturale nei rapporti tra comunità, città e borgo: il caso di Sanluri (Sud Sardegna)

Sanluri is a municipality of about eight thousand inhabitants in the province of South Sardinia, which in 2021 received the title of City from the Presidency of the Republic, confirming its economic and administrative centrality. Its geographical position, in an area between the provincial capitals of Cagliari and Oristano, has kept the territory among the protagonists of the island's history. First disputed, between the 12th and 13th centuries, between the autonomies of the Giudicati of Cagliari and Arborea, Sanluri was the epicentre of the hostilities between the Arborean military forces, defending the last survivor among the autonomous giudicali realities, and those of the Catalan-Aragonese, who arrived in Sardinia in 1324 following its enfeoffment by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297. Precisely following the Battle of Sanluri in 1409, the fall of the giudicato began, as well as the most intense phase of transition to the rule of the Crown of Aragon. From the medieval period, Sanluri preserves the castle, erected at the end of the 12th century under the rule of Pietro I d'Arborea, and the village connected to it, both important cultural and identity references for the local community. It is precisely the village, densely populated, that is the focus of the celebrations of the main local festival, representing in the current town layout a potential pole of attraction for community life. The state of studies on the historical and cultural context of Sanluri reveals the lack of an analysis on the relationship between the local community and the medieval village, which questions a reality that coexists between a proud city autonomy and an important historical identity. By reading the data that emerged from questionnaires submitted to the community and analysing the dynamics linking inhabitants and village throughout the year, the contribution aims to return a preliminary investigation on the socio-cultural context of Sanluri, from which emerges the peculiar nature that characterises the town community in terms of local identity and cultural heritage.