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Cagliari is called Casteddu (literally, the castle) in the Sardinian language. It has about 165,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the suburbs (metropolitan area) (Elmas, Pirri, Quartucciu, Quartu Sant'Elena).

Under the name of Karalis it was one of a string of Phoenician trading colonies in Sardinia, including Sulcis, Nora, and Tharros, that were founded from Tyre in the 7th century. It passed with the rest of the island first to the control of Carthage and then to Rome in 238 BC when the Romans defeated the Carthaginians. Subsequently ruled in turn briefly by the Vandals, Byzantine Empire, Genoa, Pisa, Aragon (during the Catalan domination the city was named Càller), Spain and briefly the Austrian Habsburgs, it came under the House of SavoyThe House of Savoy was a dynasty of nobles who traditionally had their domain in Savoy (a small region between Piedmont, Italy, and France). They became Kings of Sardinia and later of Italy. Their Kingdom ended with the referendum by which Italians chose in 1720. From the 1870s, with the unification of Italy, the city experienced a century of rapid growth.

Cagliari is home to the football team Cagliari CalcioCagliari Calcio is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The club was formed in 1920 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, having spent a large part of recent years bouncing between Italy's top division and Serie B. They won their only s, winner of the italian league championship in 1970, with the team led by one of the greatest Italian strikers of all times, Gigi Riva .

The old part of the city (called the 'Castello' , castle) lies on top of a hill, with a wonderful view of the Gulf of Cagliari. Most of its city walls are intact, and feature two 11th century towers, from the era of Pisan control, protecting its two entrances.

In Castello you can visit the Cathedral, the palace of the Provincial Government (which used to be the island's governor's palace before 1900), and the Sardinian Archaeological Museum, the biggest and most important regarding the prehistoric Nuragic civilisation of Sardinia.