Cagliari, Villa Doloretta or Pollini Garden

Villa Doloretta or Pollini garden. Photo by Marta Cincotti, 2025, from Catalogo BBCC.

Villa Doloretta or Villa Pollini was built in 1812 on the will of Count Gaetano Pollini, a wheat merchant of Ligurian origin who settled in Cagliari. The building represents a significant example of neoclassical architecture with late Baroque influences in the decorations and in the articulation of the spaces. The garden, designed in Italian style, testifies to the integration between representative residence and agricultural activity. During the twentieth century, the villa passed through several families, including the Porcile di Sant'Antioco and the Zedda Piras, who renamed it “Villa Doloretta” in honor of his wife Doloretta Marcello Serra. In 1992, the building was acquired by the State and subject to protection by the Superintendency, which promoted restoration and conservation interventions.
The garden of Villa Doloretta or Pollini represents a green area of suburban residence. The main building is flanked by a group of rural buildings functional to the management of what was a farm; these buildings are organized around courtyards distinct in appearance and function. On the front of the villa there is the fenced and regularly planned representative garden, characterized by a formal setting with a monumental Ficus macrophylla at the center dating back to the first decades of the twentieth century. In front of it there is a fountain that is now out of service, which originally constituted the ornamental fulcrum of the plant. Inside the representative garden there is also a portion of land that shows recognizable traces of an ancient orchard or citrus grove. Climbing roses grow along the perimeter, while in the flower beds on the side of the villa there are aromatic plants. The vast backyard was intended for productive activities and housed service rooms, spaces for cultivation and housing for animals. In this area there was also a private chapel, which has now disappeared.

Consult the Catalogue of Cultural Heritage — Garden Card of Villa Doloretta or Pollini NCTN 2000253039

Interesting aspects
The villa is scenographically inserted into the periurban landscape of Cagliari. The presence of the centennial ficus creates visual contrasts between vertical vegetation elements and the architectural symmetry of the villa. The perspective axis between the main front of the residence and the formal garden emphasizes the monumental nature of the building. On the back, the freer and more functional layout of the agricultural and productive areas introduces a naturalistic and productive counterpoint to the strict formal composition.