The building, adjacent to Porta Cristina, is located along the public promenade of Buon Cammino. The original building, rectangular in plan and with only a ground floor, dates from, roughly, 1865. It was separated from the adjoining Carlo Alberto Barracks by a small garden; it was initially used as an armory, capable of holding about 20,000 rifles for the infantry units allocated in the aforementioned barracks. From 1909 to 1945 the building was used as barracks for the 46th Infantry Regiment “Reggio.” There is reason to believe that in the building, in addition to the premises used as an armory, there were logistical facilities necessary for the needs of the Units stationed in the adjacent Carlo Alberto Barracks; there is, however, certainty that the room where the Courtroom now stands was used as a stable for the Regiment’s horses. After 1916 the Barracks was named after the Gold Medal for Military Valor Francesco Fadda of Tempio Pausania, Second Lieutenant of the 46th Regiment of the “Reggio” Brigade. The locations of the Regiment, from the date of its establishment until 1909, when it was stationed in Cagliari, were many and involved various cities of the peninsula, including Bologna, from 1876 to 1880; in that city was sculpted , in 1880, the statue of King Vittorio Emanuele II by Corporals Alessandro Baratta and Augusto Caro. The work consists of five parts made of fine marble on which details typical of the Monarchy and the Regiment stand out. There is no information on where exactly the statue was allocated during the 46th Reggio Regiment’s stay in Cagliari. During 1945 the Regiment was transferred to Messina; in 1947 the building, meanwhile elevated with another floor, became the seat of the Military Court of Cagliari. In the year 2002, during renovation work on the building, the statue was found and, in view of its other historical value, it was restored and placed in the Courtroom. The restoration was carried out by the late Maestro Claudio Pulli, who with great skill and painstaking work restored the statue to its former glory.
