Alghero, Italy

Alghero is a city and comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Sassari in the northwest of the autonomous island region of Sardinia in Italy, next to the Mediterranean Sea. With a population of 41,765, it is the 5th-largest city in Sardinia. The population is noted for having retained the language of the Crown of Aragon rulers from the end of the Middle Ages, when Sardinia was part of the Crown of Aragon; hence, Algherese (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.