The building planned by the engineer Dionigi Scano stands on the corner of Largo Carlo Felice and Via Crispi located adjacent to the rear front of the City Hall.

Its construction took place between 1899 and 1901. Among the distinctive elements the vaults that form the openings of the ground floor, lined up to the windows of the three upper floors, each one richly decorated with balconies partially protruding and partly in line with the facade. The two fronts are marked by vertical pillars banded with Ionic capitals. Definitely adorned is the decorative band which is positioned below the projecting ledge, decorated with dents and female figures. It is of particular importance the use of different materials such as stone, concrete and brick during the construction works.

The project was realized in 1933 after some changes regarding the exterior decoration. This building is the first work of private construction industry made entirely of reinforced concrete in Cagliari. The building blends perfectly the modern styles with Art Deco. In the spotlight, a concrete slab placed above the entrance portraying animals during an epic race. At the top of the building there are three long arches that surround the windows with balustrades embellished with nautical motives and four vessels, leaning against the ledge that circumscribes the first floor.

The building, which takes the name of its designer and owner, the engineer Gaetano Lixi Delogu, is renowned for the exterior decoration made by Francesco Ciusa, faithfully renovated in the post-war period after being damaged by bombing in 1943. The construction works began in 1932, and ended after a year. Clearly visible throughout the building is the use of colour, cleverly combining painting and pink stone. Francesco Ciusa actively contributed to the work, taking care of design, refinements and exterior decorations. Among his works we remember the pink plaster, and low-reliefs reproducing caravels and fountains, particularly refined. The most significant decoration is the head of Gorgon Rondanini made during the reconstruction of the parts destroyed by the bombing in 1943.

These buildings have replaced the fortifications, formerly based on the ramparts of Saint Augustine (today crossing with Largo Carlo Felice), and the dock (at the corner of Viale Regina Margherita) demolished in 1863. These big palaces are formed by arcaded buildings that stand out for the combination of different decorative styles such as that one of the Renaissance and Art Nouveau.

In 1870, Via Roma was known as “Via San Francesco ”, and consisted of a series of small houses on the ground floor and first floor where families of workers and seafarers used to live. A row of houses was also located close to the pier bastions. They were public housing whose lower floors were occupied by small shops or popular trattorias. The construction of the port, was preceded by the demolition of those houses next to the dock in 1881.

In the area where the Rinascente palace was built, there was the building of the Iris cinema, and some large factories, later transferred to the outskirts of the town. After the Rinascente palace, we find the porticoed buildings constituting the “Palazzata”( an Italian word to define a series of palaces close to each other): the Magnini palaces built between 1894 and 1895 next to Baylle street; the Putzu-Spano palace dated back to the thirties; the Garzia palace built between 1894 and 1905 delimited by Via Napoli and Via Barcelona; ​​the Lione-Manca building erected between 1924 and 1934, it was the location of the Olympia cinema. The Devoto palace built in 1870 close to the church of San Francesco di Paola, and Vascellari Beretta mansion, located between Via Lepanto and Via Concezione. At the end of these palaces, the Regional Council, the Ravenna building dated back to 1910 and the INA palace built in the fifties, which has taken the place of Zamberletti palace destroyed during the bombing in 1943.

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