Sassari, Villa Arborio Mella di Sant'Elia

Villa Arborio Mella in Sant'Elia is located on the top of a then-peripheral slope, arranged like a park with pedestrian paths, pergolas, terraces, to which are also added the outbuildings in the outermost part. Today it houses the headquarters of the Industrial Association of the province of Sassari.
Villa Arborio Mella in Sant'Elia was built around 1911-13 by the architect Alberto Arborio Mella of Sant'Elia.
Preceded by a wide staircase, it consists of gradually receding but unified bodies by the same height and the same frame. The openings are richer in the main front where the references to Piedmontese rococo, linked to the origin of the designer, appear more evident. There is also a tower with an arched loggia that dominates part of the building and other loggias, however closed by stained glass windows. The ornaments reveal a mixture of stylistic references and design solutions, which lie between Neobarocco and Liberty according to a recurring situation both in Sassari itself and in other centers of the peninsula.

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. 45;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 36.