Sassari, Casa Cugurra

The building has a floor plan set back from the street and justified by the peripheral position of the land at the end of the nineteenth century. This and other homes, in fact, had the task of encouraging the renewal of the city in conjunction with the new building expansion in open spaces.
Casa Cugurra was built in two stages, as can be understood by observing in the two bodies the transition from neo-baroque stylistic elements to ceramic decorations and colored grit with a modernist origin. Above all, the first part, built at the end of the nineteenth century, is unique, which exhibits exuberant decorations in the main entrance with an arched lunette resting on pilasters. The decorative stuccos are clearly inspired by the grandiose Baroque façade of the Sassari cathedral and reach their climax in the body receding the garden, according to a repertoire that mixes scrolls, broken eardrums, sinuous figures, busts, medallions, completed by statues on the balustrade and medallions containing figures of illustrious men.
The addition to the original body was made on the side of the road in 1906 and now presents the new Liberty language in the continuous decoration of the façade, made of ceramic and colored grit pretending to be horse chestnut fruits, also included in the interior flooring.

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
E. Cenami-P. Simonetti, “Architecture and City”, in Sassari between Liberty and Déco, Cinisello Balsamo, Amilcare Pizzi, 1987, p. 42;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 36.