Catalan in Italy

Catalan's influence in my home country!
Happy New Year everyone!!

As it has just been Christmas, my house as usual has been full of Italians! We got talking a bit about my course and how I’m studying Catalan as well as Spanish, so I thought I would take it upon myself to research a bit into Catalan spoken in Italia! Catalan is spoken in Sardinia in the region of Alghero, or in Catalan, Alguer.

I find the history of Alghero fascinating. The Genoans were in control about 1000 years ago until the 12th Century when in 1353 a Spanish fleet sailed in causing a massive sea battle. They won, giving control to the Catalans for 400 years.

King Pedro IV of Aragon first of all called the town “Barcelonetta” and threw the original Algherese out of their homes to replace them with Catalan families. The Sardinians were treated as 2nd Class citizens in their own country and Catalan was made the language of the government. However, in the 16th Century, Sardinia fell to Italy and the decline in the use of Catalan began.

Despite this, there are now around 18,000 speakers of Catalan in Sardinia, with 16,000 of these living in Alghero (41% of the Alghero population). The language of Catalan has been kept alive in Sardinia by the teaching of it in some secondary schools. The TV station “Catalan TV” also broadcasts in Alghero and “Radio Sigma” is another Catalan radio station that broadcasts in Catalan.

Throughout Alghero, the history of Catalan is everywhere. Streets are called “carrer” rather than “via” and “plaça” rather than “piazza”. But, it is the older generations that speak Catalan mostly, with the young Sardinians speaking their local Italian/Sardinian dialect. This is quite sad as it shows that Catalan seems to be dying out.

As Italy was only united about 150 years ago with help from the hero Giuseppe Garibaldi! Italy as a nation has a lot of different identities, shown through the regions where they live and the dialects that they use. Sardinia has even more of a complex identity with the background of Catalan, yet I think that this shows the true magic of Italy and the strength of the Catalan language.

Thanks, Chiara