The churches of Sassari

In addition to monuments, palaces and squares, the old city of Sassari hosts religious buildings of great prestige, such as the Cathedral of St. Nicholas of Bari and the church of Santa Maria di Betlem, in which each year completes Faradda of Fence, the deeply felt celebration of Sassari.

The Cathedral of Sassari

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas of Bari dominates the Piazza del Duomo with its spectacular baroque facade. The original Romanesque building built in the thirteenth century, just the bottom of the tower: in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century the church was in fact transformed with structures gotico-aragonesi/modificata Catalan Gothic style, and then with new base a Latin cross with a nave and side chapels of the dome. At the end of the seventeenth century, when the old face began to present serious structural failure, the present was built in Baroque style facade, decorated with friezes, arabesques and medallions and features a rectangular portico, whose summit is visible emblem of the District of Torres. Then there are three niches containing the statues of the three most revered saints in Sassari: San Gavino, Proto and San San Gianuario. Still higher, finally, there is the statue of St. Nicholas, patron saint of Sassari.

The interior has a nave with vaulted ceilings and side chapels, where you see wooden altars eighteenth, nineteenth neoclassical altar (marble) and numerous works of art, among which the painting of the Madonna and Child (that Madonna del Bosco) by an anonymous artist of the sixteenth century Sardinian that adorns the rich altar, and the funerary monument to the Duke of Moriana, and obviously could not miss the statue of St. Nicholas, at the right functions, clearly recognizable by the vivid golden.

Other works are displayed in the museum of the Cathedral, as the Madonna of Humility by Van Loo, the Holy Family of Marotta, a Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio school, especially a processional banner dating from the end of'400, the school of Antonello da Messina, the most important pictorial works of the churches Sassari, which is the Veronica and (back), the Madonna with Child.

Other churches in Sassari

• Church of Sant'Antonio Abate (or Church of the Servants of Mary) - The Baroque facade of the church, built in the early years of the eighteenth century on a pre-existing structure sixteenth dominates with its simple lines the square tree that opens at the end of Corso Trinità . It has a portal that still bears the emblem of the brotherhood who had it built, while the interior retains, in addition to a series of frescoes, one of the finest wooden altars in the town, surmounted by a wooden altarpiece carved and gilded panels on several paintings from a master genovese. Opposite the church stands a particular column, illustrated, designed in the early'50s by the famous sculptor Sassarese Tavolara Eugene, in which were carved the important events in the history of Sassari.
• Santa Maria di Betlem - The church, built by the Benedictines in 1106 and later enlarged by the Franciscan friars, situated on the main square at the north-west of the city. The oldest part is the facade, Romanesque at the bottom, where stands the beautiful thirteenth century portal and a row of arches, further up you notice the hand gable and a Gothic rose window. Inside, heavily modified nell'Ottocento Baroque style, are the chapels side, each dedicated to a different forum (ancient craft guilds), in memory of the social function of the church: even today, August 14, for the 'Faradda' the Fence, the festival par excellence of Sassari, are brought here in procession from the church of the Rosary votive candles donated by various corporations. Through the sacristy we reach the cloister which houses an exceptional collection of marble with inscriptions and medieval coats of arms, and Brigliadori fountain, also medieval (only example of its kind in Sardinia), bronze and granite stone, with three coats of arms in the tub.
• Church of San Pietro in Silki - One of the oldest Romanesque churches of Sassari, bears the name of the medieval village which was built in the twelfth century. The building has undergone profound changes during the seventeenth century, and the original Romanesque structure only the bell.
• Chiesa di Santa Caterina - From the late-Renaissance facade, built by the Jesuits in 1580. The building has an octagonal cupola drum resting on pointed arches, similar to that of the Duomo, and hosts the beautiful interior a large number of works of art.
• Church of the Holy Trinity - Once in the first half of 1700 and managed by the brotherhood of the Holy Cross, in the We have a beautiful wooden crucifix of 1600.
• Sant'Apollinare church - The original building was erected around 1278 and is among the oldest churches in the city, but has undergone several renovations, one of which after a fire which destroyed the interior. Among the survivors there is the crucifix of the fourteenth century and un'acquasantiera carved in limestone.
• St. James' Church - built in the thirteenth century, with a very simple facade conservatasi until today, despite the various restorations suffered the building.
• Chiesa di San Michele - built in the eighteenth century and originally dedicated to San Gavino.
• Church of the Rosary - The sanctuary was built in 1630 by the Dominicans, but the present facade dates from the mid-700, within the building is the main altar, made of wood inlaid and considered unique in the island. From this church, which faces onto Piazza Castello, every year the Faradda of Candelieri.