The arrival of the Salesians in Cagliari has a very specific date: 13 October 1913. The school, always the workhorse of the Salesians, opens with two courses: elementary III and IV, an after-school program for elementary, technical and junior high school courses. The following year the oratory was opened, but has a short life: the means are lacking and there's the First World War. 1916 actually marks the beginning of the oratory, although the actual start-up takes place at the end of the war when Fr Domenico Gallenca arrives. The canonical erection of the "Don Bosco" house in viale Sant’Ignazio took place on May 28, 1926 (even if the first stone was laid in 1908): in 1943 the institute was seriously damaged by bombing. It was rebuilt and expanded in 1948.
Along with the Institute in Viale Sant’Ignazio, there is the parish and that of San Paolo, in Piazza Giovanni XXIII, founded in 1958, where today there is also the Oratory and the Youth Center. The parish was immediately characterized by its strong roots in the territory, especially in the early years within a rapidly expanding neighborhood, that of Fonsarda. Today there are 20 religious in the city: 14 in Viale Sant’Ignazio, 6 in Piazza Giovanni XXIII.
Another Salesian stronghold in the diocese - in Selargius – has been the Vocational Training Center, parish, oratory and family home, built in 1967 - even if today the parish is run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
But the Salesian roots on the island are strong and deep: in Nuoro, 1981, the parish with the oratory and the Vocational Center was built; a parish that Don Bosco's children will leave to the diocese in two years. Strong are the Salesian presences in Sassari and Olbia. And without forgetting that in Sardinia there are also the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians: in Cagliari, Monserrato, Guspini, Sanluri, Macomer and Nuoro.
“The school,” says Fr Michelangelo Dessì, director of the Institute in Viale Sant’Ignazio in Cagliari, “is a beautiful tradition: the Salesians form the conscience of young people; a formidable educational action. It's not just school; it's much more: it is a democratic exercise. And it has always been a point of reference for the city… We need to continue to hope in young people. We are transmitting what we have received: it is moving that the children, when they finish their course of studies, remain connected to us.”
