Nuoro, Classical High School “G. Asproni”

The building is located on a slight slope in the heart of the part of the city built during the fascist era.
The project, drafted by the engineer Giuseppe Pietrangeli in 1928 on behalf of the Civil Engineering Technical Office, was approved in 1930 and entrusted to the engineer Giuseppe Bottiglieri for a total renovation, mainly concerning the decorative apparatus, considered too expensive and including medallions, coats of arms, ashlar coating.
The building consists of two vancords flanked by a central body, unified by a frame on shelves, which embraces three sides, highlighting the crowning with curvilinear tympani. The entrance is on the middle of the sloping side.
The construction is close to Art Deco, visible mainly in some decorative details on the different fronts and inside the building. The most significant points are two: the part above the main entrance with a stone cladding underlined by a balcony, a triple-arched frame and an annoyance that bears the name of the high school, and the body of the gym with decorative elements in geometric style, which has restored the inscription “O.N.B.” (Opera Nazionale Balilla) amid strong controversy regarding the opportunity to resume a call to fascism. Even the wrought-iron gate supported by pillars has a pleasant decorative cut suitable for the construction, which overlooks the road that gave access to the train station before its transfer to another part of the city.

History of studies
A review of studies can be found in the bibliography relating to the fact sheet in the volume of the “History of Art in Sardinia” on nineteenth-century architecture (2001).

Bibliography by
F. Masala, “The Sardinian Cities in the Twenty Years”, in The Founding Cities in Sardinia, edited by A. Lino, Cagliari, CUEC, 1998, p. 194;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 85.