Piazza d'Italia is the main square of the modern city centre, a broad, formal space surrounded by 19th-century neoclassical buildings and dominated by a large bronze statue of King Vittorio Emanuele II. The square has the formal proportions of the Risorgimento era, when new public spaces were laid out across Italian cities to mark the creation of the unified Italian state.
The evening passeggiata brings Sassari residents to the square and the adjoining Corso Vittorio Emanuele II — an unhurried procession of families, students, elderly couples, and friends that is one of the more entertaining social spectacles in northern Sardinia. The cafés around the square are good for an aperitivo as the evening begins.