The Bastione del Balice, where Belgrano planned to build Cagliari University, is marked in red. The University of Cagliari was founded in 1626, when Sardinia was under Spanish dominion. The University's early life was far from easy because Sardinia underwent extremely severe economic and social crises between 1650 and 1660. The situation began to improve gradually when Sardinia passed from the Spaniards to the Savoys in 1720. Turin University's royal Charter was extended to the University of Cagliari in 1764. Four new colleges (as the university faculties were known at the time) thus came into being: Jurisprudence, Theology, Philosophy and Arts, Medicine and a School (rather than a college) of Surgery. The new university professors also arrived from Turin in 1764. A new university was now urgently required. At last, in 1769, the new university site was inaugurated . This housed not only the four colleges but also, from 1805, the University Museum. illustration from: Le città nella storia d'Italia [Cities throughout italian history] Cagliari. I. Principe, Bari 1988, page 119.