Sassari, San Donato elementary schools

The building is the first building replacement in the context of the historic center of Sassari, which makes the monumental aspect of the schools even more evident compared to the surrounding buildings.
The building is the result of a competition launched in 1905 by the municipal administration, an infrequent event and even less so for a school. The winner was the project by the engineer Silvio Sanna, bearing the motto “The plow”, actually built over the course of about a decade (1910-22).
The construction reflects the courtly style typical of buildings representative of the time, without conceding anything to the innovations of Liberty, even though it was particularly present in Sassari at that time. On a U-shaped planimetric model, recurring for the type of the school building, there is a compact body on three levels and a large façade, concluded by a projecting ledge and highlighted by openings where the lowered arches are repeated, which become three in the central part.

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, pp. 32, 41;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 23.