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Sardinia
units of liquid capacity

Wine measure

The Tavola di Ragguaglio³ (1877) states that the quartara was often taken as 5 liters and the botte as 50 liters.

Smyth¹ (1828) describes a significantly different system, charted below. (We have converted his equivalents in gallons, quarts and pints to liters. From the values, it is clear that despite the date, he is using wine gallons and not imperial gallons.) Doursther² (1840), page 432, provides some support for Smyth: “Sardaigne. La botta = 100 quartieras = 500 pinte.....500 liters.” The shrinkage of the botte by 1877 is probably connected with the prominent role Sardinia played in the unification of Italy. A fuller explanation is obviously needed.

1. William Henry Smyth.
Sketch of the Present State of the Island of Sardinia.
London: John Murray, 1828.
Page 345.

2. Doursther (1840), pages 109, 174, 465, 506.

Although on page 506 Doursther says = 1 starello di Cagliari = ¹⁄₃ restiere, on page 463 he says 1 restiere = 3½ starelli de Cagliari, in agreement with other sources.

3. Tavole di Ragguaglio dei Pesi e delle Misure … Edizione Ufficiale.
Rome: Stamperia Reale, 1877.

Oil measure

Smyth's report, converted to liters as above. Algehero is a city in Sardinia with a distinctive history, populated in large part by Catalans.

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Last revised: 4 December 2013.