English (UK) 
Italiano 
Even before the Roman invasion, Sardinia was within Rome's trade, but was firmly controlled by the Carthaginians. Trade for the Romans was authorised by the Carthaginian government through a herald or scribe.
A first Roman settlement of about 500 civilians on the island occurred around 380 B.C. with the colony of Feronia, probably the present Posada
Because of this initiative, the Punic government forbade all forms of relations with Sardinia such as trade and the foundation of towns, except for an emergency docking in the event of a storm; the stay could not exceed five days. It also began the massing of troops on the island in preparation for a landing in Latium.
The Roman reaction was probably the conquest of the city of Olbia on 11 March 258 B.C. where, in defence of the city, it would seem there were also Sardinians associated with the Carthaginians. However, with the peace treaty of 241 BC, Sardinia remained in the hands of the Carthaginians.
The turning point began with a revolt of Sardinian mercenaries, Punic and refugees (called perfugae from where the name of the village of Perfugas is supposed to derive. Would it therefore be a Carthaginian settlement?) settled in Sardinia, probably due to lack of wages. Being isolated and not listened to by their motherland, they asked Rome for help, which Rome ignored. Only after a second request did the government of Rome take advantage of the opportunity and decide to land in Sardinia: it was the year 238 BC.
These first military operations were entrusted to the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who, almost without a fight, conquered the main Sardinian Punic cities, thanks also to the reception, and therefore alliances, of various Sardinian Phoenician factions unhappy with the Carthaginian misrule.
The new occupants, however, began the first clashes against the inland tribes that did not like either the Carthaginian or the Roman occupation, but we also know that they continued, clandestinely, to be supported by the Carthaginians, probably with the supply of weapons.
It was necessary to send two consuls from Rome: Marcus Pomponius Matho and Gaius Papirius Maso with their respective armies, one in the north and the other in the south of the island, to crush the continuous Sardinian revolts, especially in the mountainous interior.
Despite several Roman victories over the Sardinians, often using dogs to flush out insurgents perched in the most inaccessible and unreachable areas of Sardinia, they still failed to gain total control of the island.
These multiple guerrilla actions, such as the attack and looting of a Roman column on its way to the port of Olbia to surely embark for Ostia, which was attacked and looted of flocks and agricultural products also by the Gallura Corsicans (probably in the area from Buddusò up to the mountains of Mount Acuto), led the consul Maso to negotiate a peace with the Gallura Corsicans.
While the second consul Matho fared better, managing to eradicate several pockets of guerrilla warfare thanks to the use of bloodhounds.
With the arrival in Sardinia in 235 B.C. of the consul Titus Manlius Torquatus, a whole series of victories against the Sardinians began, culminating in the well-known battle of Cornus in 215 B.C., where two Roman legions clashed against 12,000 Carthaginians flanked by some 7-8,000 Sardinians commanded by Mago Barca for the Punic and by Hampsicora and her son Josto for the Sardinians. The clash first took place in the territory around Riola Sardo with an initial victory for the consul Manlius Torquatus; when the two legions returned to Cagliari, where they had their castrum, they learned that a reinforcing Carthaginian landing had probably taken place near what is now S'Archittu. A Sardinian-Carthaginian advance towards Cagliari then began, devastating the Sardinian villages that had remained loyal to Rome in the Campidano plain. Near Sanluri (Sa Sedda de sa Battalla) the decisive clash took place where as many as 12,000 Sardinian Carthaginians lost their lives (certainly exaggerated by the sources of Titus Livius) and about 3700 prisoners.
The two legions then advanced again towards the city of Cornus, which was precisely the centre of the revolt and the city of Hampsicora and his son Josto, the latter killed in the last battle. Upon learning of his son's death, Hamspicora went to the area of the present-day Marghine range to ask for reinforcements and killed himself out of despair. At this point the city of Cornus and the Sardinians, now without a leader, capitulated after a bloody siege.
In spite of this decisive victory over the Sardinians and the related expulsion of the Carthaginians from the island, the Sardinians did not cease with their guerrilla actions, which continued for another 100 years or so. We have records of fierce fighting in the area of Gallura and Anglona and especially in present-day Barbagia (called Barbaria by the Romans).
With the construction of roads a little all over the island, the most important being the Kalaris - Turris - Olbia (the section to Olbia is being finished now, after 2000 years), even in the heart of Barbagia, there was a consequent construction of small fortresses and garrisons to control these roads. According to the information we have, there were no revolts in the imperial period, apart from those from AD 6 to 14. In fact, the island was no longer controlled by the legions but by only three auxiliary cohorts, positioned at the most strategic points of the island.
Massimiliano Schirru is the co-founder, together with his wife Sabina, of the Castrum Romano Association of Sassari, which is responsible for the reconstruction of the Roman Castrum of La Crucca and which operates in the field of historical re-enactment and the historical, cultural, recreational and leisure activities that are organised annually in the park surrounding the Roman fort of La Crucca.
Visit the Park of the Roman Castrum of La Crucca, you too can spend a different day in the open air and perhaps meet the legionaries of the Cohors I Nurritanorum, a Sardinian unit made up of Sardinian soldiers...