During its long period of neglect, it was renamed "Palazzo Sorcesco." Now, long since renovated, it is once again called Palazzo Paolo De Magistris and will house art workshops, as well as a Youth Center. The building's functions are expanding, located between Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maddalena in Cagliari, following restoration work that began in 2015 and concluded in 2020.
The Cagliari City Council has approved, upon a proposal from Councilor Anna Puddu, the guidelines for the implementation of a multifunctional center within the facility. This center simultaneously meets the objectives of the regional guidelines of the 2019 National Social Policy Fund, the DUP and the Plus of the City of Cagliari for the three-year period 2026-2028, and the agreement with the Cagliari Local Health Authority (ASL) for the implementation of a health prevention and promotion project , including integrated care and treatment, aimed at young people, through recreational, cultural, artistic, training, and entertainment activities.
The approved guidelines envisage collaborations with the University of Cagliari, the Local Health Authority (ASL), and social associations and cooperatives, with the aim of developing co-design processes for the participatory management of the space through public-private partnerships, temporary consortia, or youth cooperatives. Several municipal departments are also involved: in particular, given the project's cross-cutting objectives, the Department of Culture, Entertainment, and Tourism and the Department of Public Education, Support for Study and Knowledge, with the necessary coordination being carried out by the Social and Housing Policies Department.
"Left abandoned for five years after the completion of the works by the previous center-right government, it will be returned to the city," Mayor Massimo Zedda wrote on social media. "Last year, on the centenary of his birth, the city council's Culture Committee proposed naming the building after De Magistris (born January 4, 1925), who purchased the building as mayor in 1969. It will become a dynamic, open, and inclusive multipurpose space, with a focus on youth creativity, artistic expression, cultural development, and social cohesion. For this reason, it will be called 'Palazzo Paolo De Magistris - Artistic Workshops,' dedicated to promoting youth well-being through educational, cultural, and artistic initiatives, creating a space for young people to learn, train, and entertain."
Responding to the mayor's jab was Pierluigi Mannino, the leader of the Brothers of Italy party in the city council: "The rebirth is welcome, but it's our duty to remind the mayor that the five years of neglect following the work were the result of his own choice: renovating a public property without clearly defining its purpose, management plan, and routine maintenance. This omission, coincidentally, led to the delays in the designation of use."
Rather than pointing the finger at his predecessor, according to Mannino, Zedda "would do well to take responsibility for those delays, exacerbated by the penultimate term marked by pandemic emergencies. As for naming the office after De Magistris, proposed by the Brothers of Italy group leader and unanimously approved, it demonstrates that in public administration, continuity is not a slogan, but rather a fair distribution of credit and burden. Let's continue like this, with bipartisan pragmatism." (Unioneonline)
