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Liberty in Cagliari

The liberty buildings of Cagliari are a series of buildings present within the Sardinian capital, which characterize it in large part, although very contaminated by eclecticism. Many of the buildings in Cagliari respond to this style, which spread in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, due to the great expansion of the city, considering the interventions and the role of the Sardinian bourgeoisie and the Genoese bourgeoisie.

Historical background
The transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century in Europe was characterized by a fervent renewal of artistic expressions certainly influenced by technical progress and by the enthusiastic positivist exaltation of the important goals achieved by science. The evolutions of the artistic avant-garde of the late nineteenth century first involved applied arts, assuming different names according to geographical areas: in the French-speaking area it took the name of Art Nouveau, in Germany Jugendstil, in Austria Sezessionstil, Modern Style in Great Britain and Modernism in Spain.

In Italy the new trend was established in the major Italian cities, with the highest prevalence in Turin and Milan, initially as “new art”, declining the term directly from the French and this calls for reflection in Italy and France more than in the rest of Europe the name of this new style did not come from that strong desire to break with the past and with the academic tradition. In the national context this new current, which later assumed the name of « floral style», Never consolidated in a real Italian school of reference but it was established, albeit with a slight delay compared to the major European countries, living its maximum splendor in the early twentieth century. In this first decade of the twentieth century and following the editions of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin, in fact, we can speak of ” liberty “, a term that was more widely affirmed in the complex and variegated national architectural panorama deriving from the famous warehouses Londoners of Arthur Lasenby Liberty, among the first to expose and disseminate taste objects and prints exotic that sported the typical sinuous shapes of this new style.

In central and southern Italy the liberty did not reach the most francesizing evolutions of Turin or sometimes exasperated in Milan but was strongly influenced by the emotive eclecticism, giving life to a liberty much more contaminated but nevertheless of appreciable architectural interest.

Stampace
Stampace is the district where this new current has found more diffusion: starting from the Municipality of Via Roma, built in Art Nouveau style with hints of Gothic-Aragonese. Other buildings are located in Piazza del Carmine, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, in Viale Trieste, where Palazzo Balletto is located, in Largo Carlo Felice, where Palazzo Accardo, designed by Dionigi Scano, stands, and in Viale Trento, where Palazzo Merello rises. numerous villas.

Palazzo Civico
The project of the Palazzo Civico was elaborated in the study of the architect Crescentino Caselli by the Turinese engineer Annibale Rigotti. The building occupies an area bounded by the Via Roma, where the main entrance opens, the wide Carlo Felice, the Via Crispi and the Via Angioi. The artistic – architectural style of the building, made of limestone clear, is given by the reworking of models belonging to the Gothic-Catalan, with the addition of Art Nouveau decorations. In the second half of the eighties he underwent a conservative restoration.

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Marina
Important in this district is the Palazzata di via Roma, which largely follows the Liberty style.

Castle
The Castello district, among the historians, is the one that has less Art Nouveau works, but there are some ancient palaces that were renovated and decorated with floral motifs during the twentieth century, especially in some elements such as balconies, less demanding than a renovation complete with facades. Interesting is the Onnis-Bellegrandi Palace in Via Martini, which houses a valuable decorative apparatus.

Villanova
In Villanova there are some interesting Art Nouveau buildings and villas, such as Palazzo Valdès, with its richly decorated façades, the nearby Palazzo Atzeri, and many buildings in Via Sonnino, the most particular of which is located at number 11.

Palazzo Valdès
Palazzo Valdès is located in the first part of Viale Regina Elena and was built between 1901 and 1915, enlarged in 1926, damaged by the bombing of ’43 and later restored. The oldest part, which overlooks the Bastion of Saint Remy, was designed by Nicolò Mura and has a granite base, while the decorations are terracotta. The most recent part, designed by Riccardo Simonetti, gives onto Via Sulis and, with an interesting round wall, on Piazza Marghinotti.

Source from Wikipedia

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