In 1841 the municipal administration resolved to build a new hospital based on the design of engineer Carlo Berio and the direction of municipal architect Piretto. The execution of the imposing building, structured in a radial pattern with five arms, was entrusted to the firm of Giovanni Fogu from Sassari, who began work in 1843 and completed it in 1849. The entrance hall on the ground floor, facing Fiume Square, was built in 1928 to a design by architect Raffaele Oggiano. The central staircase leads to the Atrium of the Benefactors, on whose walls are walled plaques with the names of those who contributed to the construction and development of the hospital. Through doors made by the Clemente company, one enters the Vestibule of Benefactors, in which busts and statues depicting munificent citizens are preserved. The Chapel, with a semicircular plan, is dedicated to the Most Holy Annunciation. The white marble altar was erected by priest Salvatore Sassu to the design of Don Simone Manca, Sassari’s first mayor after Unification. Through large entrances, the Chapel communicated directly with the inpatient dormitories, allowing the sick to attend religious services. Upon completion of the re-functionalization, the Chapel will open onto the reading and reference rooms of the new University Library. The monumental complex of the former hospital will house the University Library of Sassari, which currently has about 300,000 volumes, including 1,000 manuscripts and 73 incunabula and several thousand sixteenth-century and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century editions, a valuable and extensive collection of local history. Among the bibliographic relics is the Condaghe of St. Peter in Silki.
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