Sassari is a city rich in art, culture and history, and is well known for its palazzi, the Fountain of the Rosello, and its elegant neoclassical architecture, such as Piazza d'Italia (Italy Square) and the Teatro Civico (Civic Theatre).

[8] The city's economy mainly relies on tourism and services, however also partially on research, construction, pharmaceuticals and the petroleum industry.

In the locality of Fiume Santo is also found a fossil site where an Oreopithecus bambolii, a prehistoric anthropomorphic primate, was discovered, dated at 8.5 million years.

Among the theses, according to folk tradition the first village was founded around the 9th–10th century AD by the inhabitants of the ancient Roman port of Turris Libisonis (current Porto Torres), who sought refuge in the mainland to escape the Saracen attacks from the sea.

[9] From 1323, the Republic of Sassari decided to side with the King of Aragon, in whose hands it remained for much of the following centuries, though the population revolted at least three times.

[9] However, in 1420, the city was sold along with the remaining territory for 100,000 florins to the Crown of Aragon, replaced by Spain after 1479 on the joining of the Aragonese and Castilian thrones.

In 1795 an anti-feudal uprising broke out in the town, led by the Emissary of the Viceroy Giovanni Maria Angioy, a Sardinian civil servant, who later fought unsuccessfully against the house of Savoy.

In 1877, the old Aragonese castle was demolished, and on the site the "Caserma La Marmora" was built, where the headquarters of "Brigata Sassari" is still located.

During the Fascist dictatorship, the town had over fifty thousand inhabitants and new neighbourhoods were built, the most important of these being Monte Rosello and Porcellana, typical examples of Rationalist Architecture.

The 8th Stage of the 2023 Giro Donne finished at Salassa on 8 July.Sassari is located in north-western Sardinia, at 225 metres (738 ft) above sea level.

The city is surrounded by a green belt of thousands of hectares of olive plantations, which from the 19th century have partly replaced the mixed woodlands of oak and other Mediterranean trees as well as the maquis shrubland.

Sassarese (Sassaresu or Turritanu) is much closer to Corsican and Tuscan language than it is to Sardinian, although this fact has caused some political controversy.

Latte Dolce, the Torres Calcio Femminile that won seven Serie A titles, eight Coppa Italia, seven Supercoppa Italiana and two Italy Women's Cup.

The club is also famous for lanching players like Gianfranco Zola, Pietro Paolo Virdis, Antonello Cuccureddu, Comunardo Niccolai, Theofilos Karasavvidis, Walter Mazzarri.

Manufacturing includes construction, pharmaceutical, food, typographic industry, and also, indirectly, petrochemical and the new greenchemicals located in Porto Torres.

Its libraries contain a number of ancient documents, among them the condaghes, Sardinia's first legal codes and the first documents written in the Sardinian language (11th century) and the famous Carta de Logu (the constitution issued by Marianus IV of Arborea and updated later by his daughter the Giudichessa Eleanor of Arborea) in the 14th century.

Two different railway companies connect the town to the rest of the island: Trenitalia links Sassari to Porto Torres, Oristano, Cagliari, Olbia, Golfo Aranci, and the ARST reaches Alghero, Sorso, Nulvi and Palau.