Sassari, Palace of Justice

The building is located close to the former judicial prison along Via Roma, which connects the old part of the city to the expansion of the twentieth century.
The Palace of Justice was built several times and, as in Cagliari, the authorship of the project is varied and concerns both the Civil Engineer, the engineer Domenico Dettori and the architect Gino Benigni.
The initial project dates back to 1929, but the construction was completed in 1937 for the first lot on Via Manzoni, intended to house the offices of the court and court, with a central staircase that served to connect the other planned wing.
Subsequently, the rest of the building was built, which on the main front, covered in stone, has a long Doric colonnade, framed by two protruding vancords. In the center, a pronaos leads to the most important entrance. It is joined by the part built first, along the descent of Via Manzoni where the two bodies are connected by a recessed plastered part with windows framed by heavy frames in red artificial stone.
Compared to initial forecasts, the central tympanum was not built in the body on Via Roma, while some decorative elements were eliminated in the headboards. The classical references for a highly representative monumental architecture are evident. Also of interest is the complex story of the decorative apparatus, which includes the mosaic by Giuseppe Biasi (1940), representing peace and justice, and the trachyte relief for the Audience Hall by Eugenio Tavolara and Gavino Tilocca.
Because of the Second World War, the paintings already commissioned to Filippo Figari, Pietro Antonio Manca, Cesare Cabras and Stanis Dessì were not made.

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
G. Altea-M. Magnani, Painting and Sculpture from 1930 to 1960, Nuoro, Ilisso, 2000 pp. 121-124, 128-129;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the End of the 20th Century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 64.