Cagliari, Bonaria Monumental Cemetery

The cemetery is located on the slopes of the limestone hill of Bonaria, a funerary area since Roman times.
The Monumental Cemetery of Bonaria is a large outdoor art gallery that collects sculptures by Sardinian and peninsular artists (Fadda, Sartorio, Sarrocchi, Galavoni) operating in Cagliari from the second half of the nineteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth century. There is a unique variety of styles, from neoclassicism, realism, symbolism to Liberty.
The area had previously been used as a necropolis already in the Punico-Roman and early Christian phases. Before the establishment of the cemetery, in Cagliari people were buried in churches or in the immediately neighboring areas, often with significant hygiene problems. Already during the cholera epidemic of 1816, it was necessary to urgently find some areas surrounding the city to be used as a city burial place. The cemetery was designed by the captain of the Genie Luigi Damiano and inaugurated on January 1, 1829. Barely thirty years after its inauguration, the cemetery was already insufficient, so the architect Gaetano Cima was given a mandate to design a first extension, followed by others that brought the area to the top of the hill.

Bibliography
A. Romagnino-L. Siddi-R. Badas-E. Borghi-L. Desogus, Bonaria. The Monumental Cemetery of Cagliari, Cagliari, 2000.