The Canopoleno National Boarding School, inaugurated in Sassari in 1614 at the behest of Monsignor Antonio Canopolo (1577 – 1588), Bishop of Oristano, as the seminary of his own diocese, has characterized itself over time as a reference point for the youth of the city and the territory and is certainly, along with the University, the oldest educational institution in Sassari still active today. Located for hundreds of years within the walls of the Jesuit Convent (now the National Picture Gallery of Sassari) saw the birth of the city’s first Liceo (high school) in 1851, which in 1865 would become the Liceo Ginnasio D. A. Azuni. After the school moved to its new location on Via Rolando in 1933, the boarding school had, in continuity, its own high school that thrives to this day. In the 1960s, having moved to the new, modern and functional complex in Via Luna e Sole, the Convitto Nazionale Canopoleno preserves inside – in addition to several contemporary works of art by artists who wanted to collaborate on the furnishings of the new premises, including Mario Delitala, Salvatore Sechi “De Gonare,” Elio Pulli and Gavino Tilocca – many reminders of its illustrious past, such as six- and seven-century paintings and a library full of volumes of great interest, ranging from the 1500s to the present day. These include, in addition to several books printed in Sardinia in the 16th and 17th centuries, a rare edition of Diderot’s Encyclopedie printed in Livorno in French between 1770 and 1779.
