Cagliari’s Palazzo Civico, or City Hall, rises above the harbour like a bastion of white stone, elegant in shape and colours, perfectly in tune with the other old buildings that line Via Roma. City Hall was originally located at Piazza Palazzo in the Castello quarter, fortified higher part of the city and symbol of its defence. Thanks a the far-sighted initiative of Mayor Ottone Bacaredda, the city’s main institution was moved to the more popular Marina quarter adjacent to the Stampace quarter by the seashore, a sign of changing times. In 1896 the city’s councilmen had deliberated that the seat of government should leave the city walls and head down towards the harbour. The building’s design was based on a Gothic-Catalan model and constructed with white calcareous rock graced with art deco embellishments. It was solemnly inaugurated in 1907. The move was an expression of a new political trend that reflected the ideas of the business class: visibility, comparison and openness, a radical departure from aristocratic pride and diffidence. Cagliari presented itself to the world as a modern city with an impressive ‘visiting card’: a new City Hall that was not spared the bombing raids of WWII and thus rebuilt between 1946 and 1953.