The Dessì House is named after one of Villacidro’s most illustrious families who lived there over the past two centuries. Francesco Dessì Fulgheri (General of the Sassari Brigade and father of Giuseppe Dessì, Strega Prize-winning writer in 1972 with the novel “Paese d’Ombre”) settled immediately after the Great War in what was then the most beautiful house in the village.
Giuseppe Dessì spent, therefore, his adolescence there: the characters of “San Silvano,” “Michele Boschino,” and “Passeri” were born here. For him, despite numerous travels, it always remained the “true, only” home. This building was once owned by his great-uncle, Senator Antioco Loru who, twice, first between 1868 and 1872 and then between 1885 and 1886, was elected Magnifico Rector of the University of Cagliari.
The house currently houses the headquarters of the Giuseppe Dessì Foundation, to which the National Literary Prize, which is about to celebrate its 40th edition, is dedicated.
