In 1941, the Italian Red Cross commissioned a large health facility, the San Giorgio Hospital. It was built inside some caves in the area of Viale Merello, to provide patients and refugees with an air raid shelter.

The heavy bombings of February 17, February 26 and 28, March 31 and May 13, 1943, caused many victims. The population sought refuge in the nearby villages and the few remaining inhabitants of Cagliari took shelter in the Italian Red Cross Hospital, the only operational health facility in the city during the Allied air raids.

Once the great emergency had ceased, after September 8, 1943, the Hospital remained operational to treat general patients.

Drinking water fountains