San Michele Castle is situated on the hill of the same name, now surrounded by a considerable amount of buildings, but once isolated in the northwestern territory outside Cagliari. Recent excavations have unearthed the remains of an early medieval church, on which the castle, equipped with towers and moat, arose after the Aragonese conquest, beginning in the first half of the 14th century.
The fortified complex then also had considerable remodeling due to defensive needs and the adaptation of the walls to the evolution of warfare techniques. In the building’s history, the most important and richly documented period is perhaps the 15th century, when it was also used as a home by the Carroz family, to which it is inextricably linked. Abandoned and gradually decaying, the castle was used as a lazaret during the “St. Ephisius” plague (1652-1656), and again fortified during the French attacks of the 17th and 18th centuries. Used as barracks in the early 19th century, it was removed from the list of fortifications in 1867 to be sold to Marquis Roberti of St. Thomas, who had it restored and had part of the hill reforested with Aleppo pines. In the 20th century, more precisely from 1929 to 1972, it was occupied by the Navy, also being used during World War II as a radio station. In the 1970s it was de-emphasized until it passed to the state and the municipality, which from 1985 promoted an F.I.O. (Employment Investment Fund) intervention. Today the castle retains its three towers and curtain wall, surrounded by the moat, but it has undergone a major transformation with steel and polycarbonate structures, which have entirely occupied the inner part of the building.
