Bay of Nymphs

From the ancient Baia delle Ninfe (Bay of Nymphs) to today’s Porto del Conte (Port of the Count)

The first signs of a human presence in what is today the Porto Conte area are amongst the very earliest traces of human history on the island, perhaps dating back to before the Neolithic period.
The beauty of the landscape and the safety of the port proved highly attractive to human settlers for many centuries before the focus shifted, in the Middle Ages, to the adjacent bay of Alghero.

Thanks to the magic of its natural ravines, this bay was referred to in the earliest maps of Sardinia as Nynphaeus portus, the Port of the Nymphs.
It retained this name until around the year 1000 A.D. Following a feudal investiture of the Pope relating to the lands of the bay, which was conceded – during the period of judicial government – to Isidoro Conte Palatino (a nobleman of the Logudoro who had defended the coasts against Saracen pirates), the name of the bay was changed to the current Porto del Conte or Count’s Bay.