The historic Palazzo del Duca dell'Asinara is located in the historic center of Sassari and has been the seat of the municipal administration since 1878.
At the end of the 18th century, the palace of Don Antonio Manca, Marquis of Mores, Lord of Usini, appointed Duke of Asinara in 1775, marked a turning point in city construction, becoming one of the symbols of civil architecture of the 18th century. The Duke of Asinara, perhaps because the old building in Piazza Tola was ill-suited to personal defense because it was leaning against other houses, conceived the project to occupy an entire block behind the cathedral, in an urban area that was certainly more secluded and quiet where, moreover, he already owned a building. To this he combined five houses owned by private individuals “forming, with a modern design, a ducal palace, all rebuilt on a new floor plan, proportionate to the character and title of the successors who will have to live in it”. This is what we read in the Duke's will dictated to the notary on December 30, 1804.
Construction work began in 1775 on a probable design by the Piedmontese engineer Valino and was completed after thirty years in 1805. The Duke was unable to live in the palace because he died in the same year. The first to live there and for a long time was his nephew, Don Vincenzo Manca. From 1860 to 1878, the building became the seat of the Prefecture and the Provincial Administration, as well as from 1878 of the Town Hall of Sassari, which finally bought it in 1900.
The Palace was “grandiose and impressive” in the eyes of the people of Sassari for its Piedmontese architectural composition and for the variety of limestone used. It rises over three floors both on the side of the façade and in the two headboards. These connect to Via Turritana, on the front of which a lower body rises, thus composing an irregularly quadrangular structure. The façade is divided by pilasters and divided by marcapian strips on which windows of different types run: those in the basement are linked with simple bands to those of the upper floor; the windows of the main floor are characterized by the curved and triangular gables that surmount them. The sequence is concluded by the remaining openings on the top floor, which are framed by an original Rococo motif, later taken up in other city factories.
The central window of the top floor, still walled up, was supposed to frame the coat of arms and the inscription with the Duke's titles, today in the Gothic window in the inner courtyard of the building. The central balcony, on the other hand, is a work built in 1908. On the crown is the ledge equipped with gargoyles that channel rainwater to the terrace above, concluded by a balustrade. Modulated according to the external façade pattern, both the elevations of the other three remaining external sides and those of the courtyard are presented.
In front of the building, the bodywork is located, characterized by the large portal on which the coat of arms of the Manca family with the couplet is displayed: “HOC QUOD MANCA CADENS MANCUM DYING RELIQUIT, MANCA VIRENS DESTRUM REDDIT ALTER OPUS”.
Structurally, the building has not undergone substantial changes over the two centuries, while subsequent uses have led to a modification of the internal structure of the spaces. When the City bought the building, the round chapel, with its altar, where Mass was celebrated, still existed. The Duke and his family listened to him from the grandstand, which connected with the apartments on the upper floor. In the building there was a garden with orange and lemon trees; in the center a circular well, adorned with a statuette of Bacchus as a child and four marble busts representing the sun, the moon, the star and the comet. The Town Hall demolished the well and reduced the garden to a courtyard. The allegorical marble busts and the statue of Bacchus are currently exhibited in the exhibition spaces of the Duke's rooms, together with the archaeological materials found in the excavations of the Palace's cellars.
(updated text by: Thàmus Rete Culturale Comune di Sassari)

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
S. Naitza, Architecture from the late 17th century to purist classicism. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1992, sheet 45;
AA.VV., Sassari: the origins. Ed. Gallizzi, Sassari 1989;
Altea G., Sassari between liberty and deco, Ed. Pizzi, Cinisello Balsamo 1987;
Cesaraccio A. Mossa V., Sassari and his face, Ed. Delfino, Sassari 1983;
Costa E., Pictorial Archive of the City of Sassari: Diplomatic, Heraldic, Epigraphic, Monumental, Artistic, Historical, Ed. Chiarella, Sassari 1991;
Costa E., Sassari, Ed. Gallizzi, Sassari 1992;
Ledda F., Sassari. Seven itineraries to discover a city. Stampacolor, Muros- November 2002;
Mattone A., (edited by), The Sassari Statutes: Economy, Society, Institutions, in Sassari in the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. Proceedings of the study conference, Sassari 12-14 May 1983, Ed Edes, Cagliari 1986;
Mossa V., Architectures of Sassari, Ed. Delfino, Sassari 1998;
Orlandi G.F., Sassari: the walls and the castle, Ed. Delfino, Sassari 1998;
Paris W., Sassari, the churches: artistic, religious and historical itineraries, Ed. Gallizzi, Sassari 1997;
Porcu Gaias M., Sassari, architectural and urban history from its origins to the 17th century, Ed. Ilisso, Nuoro 1996;
Municipality of Sassari, The Sassari Guides; AA.VV. Ducal Palace. Guide to Architectural and Artistic History and Characteristics, 2003; AA.VV. Palazzo Ducale, 2004.