It is by following one of the oldest and most central streets in the town that you reach Palazzo Cherchi, an ancient noble residence belonging to Giovanni Cherchi and his family.

Giovanni Cherchi was born on a warm Wednesday in June 1837. The second son of three children, from an early age he showed a particular predisposition to learn everything related to calculations and numbers with astonishing ease.

He attended primary school, learned to read and write but above all he loved spending entire afternoons at the homes of wealthy landowners, assisting them in carrying out the calculations and accounts necessary for the sale of leather, cheese, wine and any other product they sold.

Giovanni’s carefree childhood ended early, as he lost both parents at the age of nine. Placed in the custody of a guardian, just a teenager, determined and ambitious, he chose not to let himself be discouraged by circumstances and to get busy building the economic and social position he had always wanted.

He started a thriving business in the field of trade in the so-called “charcoal” considered at the time “black gold“, which led him over the years to make numerous trips around Italy consolidating strong and profitable business relationships with Livorno and Genoese entrepreneurs.

Not only that, he constantly invested the proceeds deriving from the aforementioned business in the purchase of numerous land properties located in the surroundings of his beloved native village, Dorgali.

His love for politics and for his land led him in 1860 to hold the position of town councilman first and then town councillor for thirty years.

In 1864 Giovanni met Caterina Musio, fell madly in love with her and decided to marry her. Eight children were born following their marriage.

It is for his family that Giovanni decided to build a Palazzo equipped with every luxury and comfort, to give them what he had always lacked.

He entrusted the task of its design to a famous Livorno architect, providing him with precise instructions regarding its architecture: he wanted to faithfully reproduce the style of a residence visited a few years earlier near Livorno, with which he was particularly impressed.

Giovanni’s children soon followed their father’s example, dedicating themselves to studies and taking care of the numerous land holdings. Federico in particular became a well-esteemed doctor as well as a poet in the Sardinian language known under the pseudonym Saveri Ruvu, whose poems would only be published in 1968 by his son, with the title “Cantos de S’alasi“.

Giovanni spent his old age in his beloved Palazzo surrounded by the love of those close to him and proud of having lived a life as he had always desired.

Enjoying an experience at Palazzo Cherchi is not just a simple stay, but it is actually becoming part of the history, in particular, that of Giovanni Cherchi.

Palazzo Cherchi was born from Giovanni’s commitment, determination and hard work, from his unwillingness to surrender to an already written destiny, from his desire to build something that would represent him even after his death.