Audioguide

Style: Neo-gothic / Liberty

Designer: Ing.Crescentino Caselli – Arch.Annibale Rigotti

The building, realized to replace the former Town Hall, was designed by engineer Caselli’s team (Caselli was a student of Alessandro Antonelli, the architect of the homonymous Mole Antonelliana) in collaboration with the architect Rigotti. The Town Hall met the needs of the modern Cagliari, planned after the medieval walls were demolished. The first stone was laid on 14 April 1899 at the presence of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. Engineer Caselli’s rigorous canons mixed with young architect Rigotti’s creativity, inspired by Modern Style new tendencies combined with Neo Catalan style. The arcade of the nearby Palazzo Vivanet is here characterized by strong pillars while the two octagonal towers convey highness to the quadrangular plant. The facades are characterized by different openings in Gothic Catalan style, while the reliefs, the entrance door, the railings and the small balconies have floral patterns in Modern Style. The white look is due to the limestone with inserts in pinkish, grey and green marble. The outside sculpture decoration of 1906- 1907 was made by Andrea Valli. The entrance to the courtyard, through the stunning double rumps staircase, leads to the rooms decorated by the leading Sardinian artists of the time, Filippo Figari and Felice Melis Marini, rescued by the bombings of 26 February 1943, which destroyed all the works assigned to Francesco Ciusa, Antonio Ghisu and Adolfo Cao.

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