Villa Clara stands at the top of the Monte Claro public park and was home to the director of the provincial asylum of the same name, opened in 1903 and closed in the nineties.
La villa, built in the first half of the nineteenth century, was originally a country residence which, over time, belonged to different well-to-do families in Cagliari. The surrounding area is also of archaeological importance. During the building work on the asylum, a hypogeum tomb from 2,500 B.C. was uncovered, along with funeral goods and some stretches of Roman flagstone from the road connecting Calaris with the countryside.
Since 2014, it has been home to the Emilio Lussu City Library, part of the Monte Claro Librarian System cultural centre for the city of Cagliari with various structures inside the Monte Claro Park.
The System supplies the librarian services through four libraries: Biblioteca Emilio Lussu, Biblioteca Ragazzi, Biblioteca delle Scienze Sociali, Centro Regionale di Documentazione Biblioteche per Ragazzi and a book warehouse which has recently been opened to the public.
The proximity of the locations provides access to a bibliographic heritage of more than 130,000 volumes.
Villa Clara can be reached on foot through the park (from via Cadello or Via Mattei) depending on the park’s opening hours, or from via Romagna, the Cittadella della Salute road, until 12:30 on a Saturday morning. You can drive there along via Romagna (from Monday to Saturday morning until 12:30), while on Saturday evening and Sunday access is through the park entrance in via Mattei.
