Cagliari, Chamber of Commerce

The building that houses the Chamber of Commerce occupies the highest part on the W side of Largo Carlo Felice, quickly defined by the subsequent construction, between the second and third decades of the twentieth century, of the buildings for the Commercial Bank and for the Bank of Naples.
The façade of the Chamber of Commerce was designed around 1915 by Luca Beltrami, a distinguished architect and professor of architecture at the Brera Academy and the Politecnico di Milano. The project, in which the engineer G. Battista Casati had collaborated, was carried out between 1923 and 1928 by engineer Riccardo Simonetti, who also oversaw the revision of the interiors.
It is a building developed on three floors with perfectly symmetrical openings, but with different finishes in each of them: arched in the first, with gables and balconies in the second, simpler in the last. The ledge ends with two pairs of ornamental vases on each side.
A staircase that develops sinuously with beautiful wrought iron railings leads to the upper floors, where the conference room, which houses a large painting by Filippo Figari and is furnished with furniture in the Sardinian twentieth-century style, has special emphasis.
The large hall on the ground floor, which during the fascist regime (when it was called Palazzo del Consiglio dell'Economia) frequently hosted exhibitions and exhibitions, is partially altered by today's needs.

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
M. Pintus, “Architectures”, in Cagliari Historic Districts. Stampace, Cinisello Balsamo, A. Pizzi, 1995, pp. 117-119; G. Loddo, Cagliari. Architectures from 1900 to 1945, Cagliari, Coedisar, 1999, p. 30;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 55;
F. Masala, Paper Architectures. Projects for Cagliari (1800-1945) Cagliari, AM&D, 2002, pp. 189-190, 282.