Alghero, Sardinia: Coral Cliffs, Catalan History, and Vermentino Vineyards

The old town of Alghero sits on a promontory inside the walls, its streets named in both Italian and Catalan. The seven defensive towers built by the Aragonese are all accessible to varying degrees; the Torre di San Giovanni on the seafront ramparts offers the best view over the harbor and across the bay to the cape. The Cathedral of Santa Maria, rebuilt in the sixteenth century in Catalan Gothic style, has a campanile that can be climbed; the interior is modest but the Gothic apse is the most architecturally honest part of the building.

The Grotte di Nettuno (Neptune's Caves), accessible by boat from the city harbor or by the 656-step staircase cut into the cliff face at Capo Caccia, is a stalactite cave system at sea level inside the cape's dramatic white limestone headland. The boat from Alghero takes fifty minutes each way and includes a forty-minute guided tour of the cave interior; the one-way staircase descent takes about twenty minutes and is one of the more memorable approaches to any attraction in Sardinia. The cave itself is genuinely large — the main chamber is over 20 meters high — and the reflections of stalactites in the underground lake are the kind of geological spectacle that remains impressive even if you've seen similar things elsewhere.

The Riviera del Corallo (Coral Riviera) north of Alghero follows the coast through a series of small coves and beaches toward Capo Caccia. The beaches at Lido di Alghero and Le Bombarde are wide and sandy with clear water; the cove at Punta Giglio, within the Porto Conte Natural Park, requires a short walk down a footpath and has almost no facilities, which keeps it calmer than the organized beach areas. The coral for which the coast is named — Corallium rubrum, red coral — still exists in the offshore reef system and is still harvested under strict quotas; coral jewelry shops in the old town sell pieces produced locally.

The DOC Cannonau and Vermentino di Sardegna wines produced in the vineyards around Alghero are the most characteristic of the northwest: Vermentino is a white grape, aromatic and slightly saline, that pairs specifically well with the local bottarga (salted, pressed tuna or mullet roe); Cannonau is Sardinia's name for the Grenache grape, which makes deep, tannic reds in the inland areas and lighter, more elegant versions nearer the coast. Wine tastings are available at the cantina cooperatives around Olmedo and Tissi, thirty minutes by car inland.

Seafood dominates the menus in Alghero: aragosta (spiny lobster) alla catalana, cooked with tomato and onion in the Catalan manner, is the signature dish; bottarga grated over pasta is on every menu; fresh clams, mussels, and sea urchin are available at the seafront restaurants by the old port. The city's small fishing fleet still operates from the harbor below the walls.