The Cittadella Giudiziaria is the new home of the courthouse of Salerno designed by David Chipperfield in 1999 and currently being completed. In accordance with article 717 of 1949, which provides for the mandatory inclusion of works of art in public buildings, in 2002 was an international competition of ideas whose jury, presided by David Chipperfield and by Achille Bonito Oliva, selected three works (the Lighthouse of Justice Ben Jakober and Yannich Vu, neon signs on the themes of justice made by Joseph Kosuth and three videos on the unfair trial to the ideas of Franco Scognamiglio) to enrich the structure.
The project by David Chipperfield, exhibited in 2002 at the Venice Biennial includes the construction of eight buildings of varying heights, surrounded by nature and characterized by large windows. The idea was to create a judiciary building that was not intimidating but rather would make the idea of an open and accessible justice. The structure, therefore, is presented as a curtain of buildings connected by a series of arcades. The project has a central building of five levels which is the fulcrum of the structure characterized by two towers, one of ten levels, the other one of thirteen levels.
The first tower to the north, is accompanied by a building of four levels closed by a rear porch and open on the north side of the new Piazza Dalmatia and the Lighthouse of Justice. To the south stands the second tower, the tallest, whose grandeur is interrupted by two buildings: the first of four levels separated from the tower by a porch; the second building of six levels that closes the entire complex to the south and overlooks the street Vinciprova.
Each building also has a different color: red, ocher, green. The base of the Citadel is finished with black semi-gloss stone, material that characterizes Piazza Dalmatia, the new element created as a link between the road and the base of the citadel and characterized by lava stone paving.
