Cagliari

SPACES OF POSSIBILITY

In 2025 Monumenti Aperti returns to its spring season and does so with an ambitious theme: where anything is possible.
It is no coincidence that this year the event, born in Cagliari twenty-nine years ago, becomes national, establishing itself as a recognized moment of social and cultural enrichment.
The Cagliari edition always remains central, with the opening-often extraordinary-of dozens and dozens of monuments.
We invite you to experience it this year differently from how you have always experienced it, taking unexpected possibilities.
For example: those who have always visited only the historic center may decide to devote themselves entirely to the suburbs; those who have always moved around by car may decide to do so on foot, by bicycle or by bus; those who want to can dive into the experience of the many cultural initiatives that dot our program (concerts, performances, itineraries, urban games and so on).
In short, our invitation this year is to experience the event out of the ordinary.
Therefore, consider the geographic breakdown that follows as merely a facilitation in order to organize, as best you can, your personal visit experience.

OF THE FORTRESS AND ITS CENTURIES
CASTLE

Perched on a limestone hill, the Castle has been the heart of the domination of the entire Island for centuries. Its administrative and cultural radiating role has made it the site of choice for the most important monuments: from the Cathedral to the Royal Palace to the historic seat of the University. But Castello is not only a place of the past: its centrality is kept alive today by important institutions that in recent decades have given us new places of cultural enjoyment. The University’s collections, for example, which range from archaeology to ethnography, from ceroplastics to contemporary art. In this regard, we point out the Museo delle Cere Anatomiche Clemente Susini: one of the oldest and most interesting collections of anatomical waxes in Italy. Ahead of the museum hall you will find the new exhibition of the University’s archaeological and lithic collections, housed in the striking space leaning against the former bastion of Viceroy Dusay.

The MUACC (University Museum of Contemporary Arts and Cultures), opening in 2021, also offers a new perspective, bringing a renewed dialogue with art within its centuries-old walls. You really are spoiled for choice if you want to spend an Open Monuments day on Castle Hill.

But we also give you another tip: the neighborhood, with its splendid views, is also a prime vantage point over the city. After visiting the open sites that most arouse your interest, you can decide to look out from one of its terraces and choose your next stop from above: will you head for the historic low-lying neighborhoods or will you push toward the sea and the suburbs? Whatever choice you make, Cagliari awaits you with a thousand treasures to discover.

OF LANDINGS, PEOPLE AND PASSAGES
MARINA AND VIA ROMA

Imagine walking in the place that has been, before the spread of aviation, the main gateway of the world to the Island and of Sardinians to the world…the Marina is this: a sea port, a hub of meeting of people of different cultures, a lively crossroads of exchanges, material and social, of vital importance for the Island. Today the Marina encompasses twenty-six different nationalities and tells, through its monuments, all the peoples who have passed through here. Below, in its bowels, the most ancient past: with the portions of the Punic, Roman and early medieval settlement of the very precious Archaeological Area. Above, among its narrow alleys, the city’s history from the Middle Ages to the present: the many churches with their own treasures, such as Sant’Agostino, a rare example of Renaissance architecture in Sardinia; or Santo Sepolcro, which houses the worship of the Romanian Orthodox community inside. And then, outside the Marina, the wide setting of Via Roma, which was born in the mid-19th century and has become the main postcard for those arriving from the sea. It is here, on Via Roma, that the new symbols of the territory’s administration are concentrated: to the west is the new City Hall, inaugurated in 1907; at the opposite end is the Regional Council, a building of modernity often discussed but which tells us of a Marina that continues to evolve, remaining a vital pole of our community.

Via Roma can also be a convenient directrix for organizing your driving route: a direct line to cross in order to penetrate, from time to time, to discover the next monument.

MARINE SITES.

OF SAINTS AND CAVES
STAMPACE

Those who look at Stampace from above-perhaps from the striking view of the bastion of Santa Croce-will notice, in addition to the neighborhood’s small, colorful houses, a constellation of domes in a relatively small space. These are those of the churches of San Michele, Santa Restituta and Sant’Efisio.

But that of the saints and its churches is only one of the thematic cues to follow to discover this neighborhood. In fact, part of its history is to be found underground, in the so-called “ingortidroxius de Stampaxi” (swallow holes of Stampace) used by the people of Cagliari for millennia with different functions: from limestone quarries to warehouses, from rock churches to air-raid shelters during the last World War.

And, often, these two facets are complementary parts of the same monument, as is the case with the church of St. Ephisius and its crypt below, central sites in the cult of the saint still used today during the May Day festivities as an upper and lower church.

Pushing a little further, beyond the boundaries of the medieval quarter, you will then find two of the most interesting green spaces in the city: the Botanical Garden and the Capuchin Garden. They are not just gardens, but are places where you can read the history of our city through its plants and experience it more slowly, with the breath that only nature can give us.

Churches, caves and then some relaxation among the vegetable gardens. This could be one of the ways to create your own itinerary while fully enjoying all the insights of this neighborhood.

PRESS SITES.

OF STONES, VEGETABLE GARDENS AND ANCIENT GARDENS
VILLANOVA AND BONARIA

“Where there was grass there is now a city.”

While it is true that urban sprawl over the past two centuries has seen so many of the city’s green spaces disappear, it is also true that the memory of those places is kept alive, not only thanks to toponymy, but also thanks to the monuments that were linked to those spaces. Think of the Attilio Mereu Open-Air School – new this year’s Open Monuments – established in the 1930s to provide a healthy environment, surrounded by greenery, for tubercular children; or the convent of San Domenico, which, built on the edge of the old Villanova neighborhood, could guarantee the livelihood of the friars by cultivating the fields and letting them enjoy the silence of the countryside for spiritual exercises.

Among this year’s novelties we suggest the archaeological area of Bonaria Park, which guards, among the green spaces and the slope of the rocky hill, one of the oldest testimonies of our city: the Roman and early Christian necropolis.

The city, from Villanova to Bonaria, slowly slopes down to the sea. Starting at the highest part and then descending again, touching on various monuments along the way, could be a practical way to organize your driving, perhaps then reconnecting with the port area and deciding whether to move to the Marina or take a bus to visit the suburbs.

VILLANOVA AND BONARIA SITES

OF GEMS OUTSIDE THE CENTER
SU BARONI / SANT’AVENDRACE / MONTE URPINU / LITORAL

Cagliari is a city with a wide and irregular conformation, which in the last two centuries has occupied the spaces of the ancient countryside and bridged the distance that separated it from the many bodies of water that surround it. It is here, outside its own historical heart, that one encounters its less-traveled and, for that reason, more surprising corners. In this section you will find the monuments located outside the center and in the coastal area.

Visiting them all in a single day, given the distances, is not easy, but that is precisely why we suggest you choose an unusual mode of enjoyment: not wanting to “see everything” but focusing on the travel experience. Have you ever traveled through the city by transportation other than private vehicle? Monumenti Aperti might be a good opportunity to do so!

By bicycle, for example: from the center or the harbor area, using the new San Bartolomeo bicycle/pedestrian bridge, you can reach the Lazzaretto of Sant’Elia. Then, returning to Su Siccu, move to the Salt Gallery and the Museum of Zoology.

Or you might decide to get around by bus: without the weekly traffic, Cagliari’s public transportation is ideal for enjoying the journey, saving stress and fuel.

Some destinations, however, are not so far away: one step after another you will be surprised at how pleasant it is to walk around the city, observing its conformation, streets, buildings, and people. Without realizing it you will find yourself near the Palace of Justice-where you can discover the treasures and history of the Eleonora d’Arborea Society-and, stretching a little further, you will reach Monte Urpinu, where the former Dondina Quarry stands.

COASTAL / SUBURBAN SITES

OF THE ANCIENT PEASANT VILLA
PIRRI

The ancient agricultural settlement of Pirri, now a municipality of the city of Cagliari, presents for the first time a substantial body of sites that can be visited during Monumenti Aperti. For this reason it deserves, this year, a section all to itself where its own pupils will guide you.

A “trip” to Pirri will allow you to discover the countless expressions of local culture, from yesterday to today. The ancient peasant and artisan vocation stands out in the courtyard of the old campidanese house Saddi Grippo, as in the workshop of mastr’e linna Antonello Puddu. Popular devotion passes through the church of Santa Rosalia, whose cult was imported to Sardinia after the plague epidemic of the 1600s.

By devoting some time to it, you can discover the past and history of this ancient center, but also its challenges for the future, where anything is possible.

SPACES OF POSSIBILITY

Saluti dell'Amministrazione Comunale