Sassari

The  Historical   Centre

The modern urban asset of Sassari has long since embraced the old centre of the city, which at the same time has preserved that air of time long passed which give this centre an undeniable charm. Since the XIII century the city developed inside the city walls, protected by a mote-like construction. The Gates the city were four in all – one in each cardinal point of the wall structure. The eastern Gate called Porto Gurusele or Rosello, opened on to the homonymous fountain.

This fountain is situated in the market square in Via Col di Lana at the foot of the new bridge. The Fountain of Rosello was used back in medieval times, but only in the XVI century was it made into a monument. The sculpted group was provided with twelve lion mouths, from which the fountain water spurted. There are also four statues representing the four seasons.

All of this is overlooked by a small statue of Saint Gavino on horseback. At the entry to the square where the fountain stands, there is also the church of the Santissima Trinità, which was finished during the first half of the 1700’s and is managed by the Confraternity of the Santa Croce (The Holy Cross). Inside this church a magnificent wooden cross can be admired which dates back to the 1600’s. In front of the church stands the Palazzo della Frumentaria, started in 1597 and successively amplified. The rooms of this palace is were the wheat was stored and accumulated by the authorities of the city following the decisions made with the “afforo” (see. Focus On).

Presently the rooms of the Palace of the Frumentaria have been renovated and are now used to hold exhibitions of various nature. Many exhibitions of prestige have been held here, like the one of Andy Warhol’s art and works by the great reporter Sebastiaò Salgado. Of the ancient perimeter of wall, some 2500 metres long, the more consistent remains are to be found in Corso Trinità, in Corso Vico and in Via Torre Tonda. Corso Trinità starts from the Piazza Mercato, near the church having the same name.

Along the street the ancient embattled walls can be admired , which in some places still boast the ancient coats of arms from medieval times. Arriving at the end of the road and turning left, you enter the Via Saffi, which after a few tens of metres opens into the Piazza Sant’Antonio , where the last completely embattled tower stands. Almost opposite rises the church of Sant’Antonio Abate built in the 1700’s on a pre-existing structure dating back to the 1500’s. Inside this church are a series of interesting frescoes. To the side of the church stands a singular illustrated column , on which have been sculpted the most important events of the history of Sassari.

Eugenio Tavolara

This column was created at the beginning of the 1950’s by Eugenio Tavolara a famous sculptor from Sassari. The street perpendicular to the square introduces visitors to the heart of the historical centre, which can be divided in to two parts : the elegant commercial streets and those where the people live. This is a very confidential division because, in effect, the two areas live in very close contact one with the other, very often both in the same street. This definition has been made because some streets have been transformed in to real commercial centres, with elegant little shops, restaurants , offices, beauty parlours, book shops and whatever else is needed so as to make the old Corso (central street) the lounge of the old centre.

The rest of the historical centre seems to be like a small hamlet situated inside the city itself. In this area there are little bakeries, green grocer’s placed in narrow streets which are always made more lively by people’s chatter, or by the discussions of the elders of this area who like to sit on their door-steps, whilst the newer generations play football in the many little squares. This is the area too of the small restaurants where it is possible to taste the very special traditional dishes of Sassari served up to clients by very straightforward people who live this “city” in the City.

The street facing the Piazza Sant’Antonio is the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, once the only “cat-walk” of the city. Turning to the right in to Via San Carlo, you arrive at the Convent of the Cappuccine Nuns. This convent was erected thanks to the bequests of the King of Spain – Filippo IV, other than bequests of some nobility of Sassari. It was finished in the year 1965, and then was occupied by the Nuns of the Order. Inside there are some of the most beautiful works of art of the City, and moreover there is a magnificent wooded engraved pulpit dated 1600’s to the right of the High Altar.

DID YOU KNOW?: The statues of the four seasons of the Rosello Fountain went destroyed during the anti-feudal movements of 1795, except for the one representing Summer, which is presently exhibited in the Ducal Palace (Palazzo Ducale). The statues admired at the fountain were reproduced in the 1800’s by a famous marble sculptor from Carrara.

L’afforo

This operation was that of buying from the agricultural workers their wheat which was paid for using a price prefixed by the authorities and which was stored in case of famine or war, and eventually re-sell it the following year had it not been used, at the same price paid the year before – to put it synthetically. But this practice was never very popular because the store-rooms (not silos) were unfit for this purpose and usually the wheat re-sold to the people was musty.

At the corner of the convent , turning left and crossing the little square, you enter Via Gazometro which forms a cross roads almost immediately with Via Sant’Apollinare, where stands the homonymous church. The original building was erected around 1278 and is one of the oldest churches of the old city, even though it has undergone s lot of restructuring, once caused by a fire which destroyed the inside of the church.

To the side of the entry, opened during the restructuring of 1646, it is possible to see the antique gothic-style door which today is walled up on the outside. Among other remains that have reached our times is the miraculous Crucifix dated XIV century, which is slightly damaged, and the Holy Water Font sculpted in the calcareous rock. Continuing along the Via Gazometro you arrive in the Corso Vico, where the railway station and the central bus station can be found. Setting out again from the Convent of the Cappuccine Nuns but this time turning to the right, you arrive in the vast Piazza Mazzotti, which nowadays acts as a parking area for the old city. This old church square was for a long time called Piazza Colonna Mariana, due to the high obelisk place right in the centre of the square and on the top of this obelisk stands a statue of the Blessed Virgin.

The change of name of this square has never really been accepted by the inhabitants of the City who even today continue to refer to this square using its old name. In a corner of the square there is a passage with an archway above it which leads you to a small “corte” (courtyard) overlooked by the splendid church of San Giacomo, This lovely little church as built in the XIII century and has very simple façade which has been preserved to present times, notwithstanding the numerous works of renovation of the church itself. At the beginning of the 1600’s following the collapse of the roof, a new low barrel- vault roof covering was re-built .

This idea of barrel-vaulting was soon copied by many other churches built after that date. After the entry to the courtyard of San Giacomo’s church , the street proceeds and widens in the square where the cathedral of Sassari – Il Duomo di Sassari stands. The cathedral is dedicated to San Nicola, the Patron Saint of Sassari, and was built during the XII and XIII centuries. The bell-tower was added to the main body around the 1250’s , whilst the first modifications were made in the first half of the 1400’s, during which the lateral chapels were added. The façade, the most characteristic element of the cathedral, was built towards the end of the 1600’s , when the old façade began to present signs of structural precariousness.

On the top of the central architrave the coat-of-arms of the district of Torres is still visible to the naked eye. In the niche above this is the statue of Saint Nicola. The other statues in the lower niches are those of the Martyrs – Gavino, Proto and Gianuario. Inside the cathedral a series of priceless frescoes are saved. Moreover on the left side of the cathedral a funerary monument of one of the Savoy Princes stands out to be admired. It goes without saying that inside the cathedral too is the simulacrum of San Nicola, placed to the right of the Altar, and well identifiable thanks to the gold inscriptions.

Opposite the Duomo, and slightly to the right, is the church of San Michele, built in the XVIII century and at the beginning dedicated to San Gavino. To the side of this church the structure of the Palazzo Arcivescovile ( The Archiepiscopal Palace) can be seen. This was built in 1200, when the Archbishop abandoned Torres and transferred his seat to the expanding village of Thatari (see: History). Since then this building has undergone lots of restructuring and amplifications , among which the total re-construction of the seminary (1747) which overlooks the square of the Duomo.

Behind the square is the Palazzo Ducale, which can be reached via the little side street on the left of the cathedral, and it here that the Municipality of Sassari sits. This work , ordered by the noble Don Antonio Manca, was finished in 1806. Unfortunately the generous nobleman died the year before the work was finished. Inside the Palazzo is a fantastic collection of communal paintings, with works of art dated XIX and XX century. The Palazzo was built of the ruins of the old medieval borough which can be seen under the present day structure. Behind the Municipal Palace the Via Arcivescovado leads you to Piazza Università.

At the beginning of the 1600’s, a donation by the Sassari-man Antonio Canopolo , then Bishop of Oristano, made the birth of the Jesuit College and consequently the University possible. At the beginning of the 1700’s, part of the building was also used as a tobacco factory. This part of the construction stands on the extreme left, at the point which includes the ancient Torre Tonda, which can be seen only from inside the university cloister.

DO: The building of the University of Sassari is open to everyone, remember however that the various rooms of this prestigious university are nowadays used as offices and “classrooms” where lessons are held, and therefore may be visited only after asking permission.

Opposite the University, but on the back-side of the building behind the main façade, are the public gardens. Turning left into Via Torre Tonda, at the top of the street you enter Via Brigata Sassari, a shopper’s paradise. At the end of this street it opens up in Piazza Castello with the Chiesa del Rosario (Church of the Rosary) , peeping into the square from behind an enormous building, where there are the offices of a local bank, situated in Via Arborea.

The sanctuary was built in 1630 by the Dominican Order , but the present day façade dates back to the 1700’s. Inside the church the High Altar occupies the whole width of the wall opposite the entry vestibule. This work of art is all in engraved and sculpted wood and is considered to be the only one of its kind in the whole of Sardinia. It is from this sanctuary that the annual celebration of the “Candelieri” departs (see : Local Events). Going from Piazza Castello, and passing under one of the two “Portici” Bargone or Crispo (a kind a parallel cloister” you arrive in Piazza Italia, where the Palazzo della Provincia (the Provincial Palace) dominates the square and a forum set before it. In the middle of the square stands a statue erected in honour of King Vittorio Emanuele II – King of the Unity of Italy. Inside the Palace are a cycle of frescoes which depict the history of Sassari among which is the one showing the rebellion of the Angioy family and their triumphant entry in Sassari (see: History).

Piazza Italia and the Via Roma, leading you out of the square, are the places where people have their meeting point. In their elegant buildings are the most important banks , notary offices and lawyer’s offices, not to mention the elegant cafès and restaurants. Going up Via Roma on the right is the Museo Sanna (Sanna Museum), (see: Focus On), the most important gallery of north Sardinia, whilst on the other side of the road are the monumental buildings of the Law Courts and the Land Registry. The Law Courts are easy to recognise due to their high columns at the entry. Once again in Piazza Castello, and going down away from the parallel cloisters, you find yourself in Corso Vittorio Emanuele from which, crossing Via Battisti, you arrive in Piazza Tola.

This little square is presently the place where every day there is an open market selling textiles, clothes and house linen. In the middle of the stalls in the statue honouring Pasquale Tola – historian and political figure of Sassari: He was one of the people who organized the “Perfect Fusion” (see: History ). To the shoulders of the stature is the Palazzo d’Usini, an elegant Renaissance style building of the second half of the 1500’s and ordered by Don Manca.

The coats of arms of his lineage are at the sides of the impressive entry to the building. From the lower corner of the square and passing along the Via Cetti you reach the Teatro Civico, which overlooks the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The structure was realized around 1820, on the site of the ancient Palazzo Comunale (Old Town Hall). The original decorations of the building were eliminated during the works of renovation during the 1950’s , works which were carried out after a long period of decline of the building.

Leaving Piazza Tola from Via La Marmora, on the left of the narrow street is the Church of San Sisto, situated in the homonymous street and just a little further on, the church of San Donato. The two churches were both built in the second half of the 1200’s and are in Gothic style. Both were restructured in the XVII century. Via La Marmora is parallel to Via del Mercato which leads you to the market square. These are the streets of the local people, busy doing their daily shopping at the markets and at the little shops in the surrounding streets.

In these markets you can buy meat, fresh fish, cheese, cold cuts of pork products, fruit and vegetables and what is more , all are produced locally as you will hear when passing by because each vendor announces his goods quite loudly. These people are the pleasant and happy people of the old centre and are always eager to exchange a word or two or even suggest a local recipe for lunch. Another church we must not forget on our tour around the old centre is Santa Maria di Betlem, built in the XII century and successively enlarged by the Franciscan Monks who have their convent annexed to the church, and in later years it was reorganized a few times in the course of the centuries.

It is one of the most loved churches of Sassari, especially by those living in the nearby parishes of the historic centre. The sanctuary is placed slightly lower down the road from where the ancient Utzeri Gate to the City stood. Today , of the Gateway , only the name is left and now you can find a petrol station occupying the site. In this church the “Faradda “ of the Cadelieri come to its climax and is followed by the majority of the people from Sassari and the hinterland areas not mention tourists.

The Museo Sanna.

The creation of this unique museum of Sassari was made possible thanks to the bequests left by the Senator Giovanni Antonio Sanna, owner of the mining company and mines of Montevecchio at Guspini. The illustrious politician included a clause to his Will – this bequest would become annulled if the museum was not built and in this his private collection of precious paintings and archaeological finds had to be placed in custody.

At first the museum was placed inside the rooms of the University, but during the works carried out on restructuring the University in 1821, many of the prestigious pieces of art and history were assembled along the stairway of the University. It was the daughter of the same Senator Sanna to find a better collocation of these priceless articles lying sadly around the University.

She gave the land on which the museum now stands and had the museum built there. It was officially opened in 1932 and still stands there. Inside the gallery there are remains dating back to prehistoric times passing through the pre-nauraghic period, (see : Archaeology) , the nauraghic era, up to the times of the Phoenicians and Romans in Sardinia. A large room is dedicated to the medieval period and to end the list, is the ethnographic room, still of enormous interest, and the rooms dedicated to the modern and contemporary ages. In this museum it is really possible to follow the course of history of the Island, and so get a more precise idea about the ancient civilizations that have lived in Sardinia from the times of the Neanderthal Man.