ALGHERO, DIOCESE of. - A city in north-western Sardinia, in the province of Sassari. It arose at the beginning of the 12th century and was occupied in the second half of the 14th century by the Aragonese, who expelled its inhabitants and replaced them with Catalan emigrants. The city has 16,000 inhabitants and is the seat of the diocese of the same name. The diocese had its first see at Ottana around the 10th century; and in 1503 the sees of Castro and Bisarcio were united to II. The see, however, was transferred from Ottana,
by then in ruins, to A., while the diocese of Bisarcio was separated from A. and re-established as an independent bishopric, though with its seat at Ozieri, in 1803. The diocese is a suffragan of Sassari; it includes within its jurisdiction 22 municipalities of the province of Sassari and 4 of Cagliari; it now has 21 parishes, 64 diocesan priests, and 50,000 inhabitants, all Catholics. The cathedral, already existing in the 14th century, retains of its ancient structure only the great doorway with the bell tower above it, in Gothic architecture; also fine are the parish church of Padria and the small rural church in Pisan style, dedicated to S. Lorenzo, near Silanus. - See Pl. LXVI.