Page 169 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sardinia

SASSARI  167

Sassari’s Piazza d’Italia, framed by the Neo-Classical Palazzo della Provincia
The lovely 19th-century display in chronological order. R San Pietro in Silki
Bargone and Crispi arcades on On the ground floor, panels Via delle Croci. Tel 079 21 60 67.
the northwestern side of Piazza illustrate the evolution of Open 6:15am–noon, 4–7pm daily.
d’Italia shelter the city’s oldest Sardinia, and every room has The Romanesque church of
bars and pastry shops and lead time charts on display. San Pietro in Silki faces a lovely
to Piazza Castello. There are also architectural tree-lined square and was
reconstructions of prehistoric most probably named after
buildings such as dwellings, the medieval quarter built
domus de janas (rock-cut tombs) here in the 1100s. Its simple
and giants’ tombs. In the last 17th-century façade has a large
hall, among floor plans, atrium leading to the Gothic
sarcophagi and statues there nave with four side chapels. The
is a reconstructed mosaic floor first of these was dedicated to
from a patrician Roman villa in the Madonna delle Grazie in the
nearby Turris Libisonis (present- second half of the 15th century.
day Porto Torres). The mosaic It is named for a statue of the
shows lobsters, sea horses, Virgin Mary, found inside a
and seals chasing one another column from the square in front
in an eternal circle. The next of the church. The statue is one
room contains a small art of the best examples of Catalan
Entrance to the Museo Nazionale “GA gallery with works by Sardinian Gothic sculpture in Sardinia.
Sanna” in Sassari artists from the 14th to the On the other side of the
20th centuries. square, opposite San Pietro, is
E Museo Archeologico There is also a traditional the Frati Minori monastery,
Nazionale “GA Sanna” crafts section with jewels, which houses one of the island’s
Via Roma 64. Tel 079 27 22 03. costumes, musical instruments richest libraries. The collections
Open 9am–8pm Tue–Sun. & and craftsmen’s tools, almost consist of over 14,000 volumes,
8 7 ∑ museosannasassari. all of which are still used in removed from Franciscan
beniculturali.it central-northern Sardinia. monasteries after their closure.
The Sassari archaeological
museum was donated to the
Italian state by the Sanna family,
who built these premises in
1931 to house finds collected
by Giovanni Antonio Sanna,
an important figure in the
island’s history and director
of the local mine.
Two entire storeys are given
over to various periods of
Sardinian civilizations, from
the Neolithic to the Middle
Ages. Arrowheads, nuraghic
bronze statuettes, amphoras,
furnishings, weapons, tools,
ceramics and jewels are on The Romanesque church of San Pietro in Silki, Sassari

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