City Theater, Sassari

Sassari's municipal theater is the city's largest theater and, with its 1421 seats, one of the largest in Sardinia.

The building is located in the Art Nouveau district of Cappuccini, in the square of the same name next to the Capuchin church and the Luigi Canepa Conservatory, with which it forms an artistic-musical hub called the "District of Music and Creativity."

The need to build a theater of adequate capacity, given the small size of the historic Teatro Verdi, led to the birth of the project in 1984 under then Mayor Raimondo Rizzu. Work on the construction was entrusted to Sassari architect Elia Lubiani and began in 1990 and lasted due to scarce funding and various vicissitudes for up to 20 years. On October 25, 2007, when construction was nearing completion, a still unexplained fire hit the auditorium and roof. The 470-stall underground parking lot attached to the facility is nearing completion. Since the opening of the facility, the project has been harshly criticized by users, who complain of poor or no view of some rows and the presence of cold drafts that make the theater unlivable in the winter months, despite powerful heating systems.

It was informally inaugurated on Feb. 21, 2012 in the presence of President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano. On October 12, 2012, it was the opera Romeo et Juliette by Charles Gounod that finally opened it for the traditional opera season.

The theater is now permanently used for the Opera Seasons organized by the Marialisa de Carolis Concert Society and for the drama season organized by Cedac.