Ales, St. Peter's Cathedral

Ales (in 194 above sea level) It is the most important center of Marmilla, at the end of a small valley on the eastern slopes of Monte Arci.
The cathedral of Ales was rebuilt in the upper part of the town where the building erected in the 15th century at the behest of the Marquis of Quirra, a woman violante Carroz and destroyed by a fire at the end of the 16th century.
The reconstruction work began in 1686 on the initiative of the bishop of Ales, Monsignor Didaco Cugia, under the direction of the Genoese master builder Domenico Spotorno, the same one who in 1674 completed the baroque renovation of the Cagliari cathedral and who in 1670 began the remodeling of the Villacidro parish church dedicated to Santa Barbara.
The plan has a single aisle flanked by chapels, two on each side, with a transept and octagonal dome at the intersection of the arms. The aisle is punctuated by ribbed ionic pilasters and subtarches with lacunaries. The decorative apparatus and, in particular, the marble furniture renovated around 1725 by Pietro Pozzo from Genoa and his circle are sumptuous. The pictorial decoration with stories of the life of the two apostles, culminating in the segments of the dome with the scenes of martyrdom and glory, however late and in a very poor state of preservation, contributes to the unity of the environment. The façade, concluded by a curvilinear ditch, is enclosed by two jutting bell towers, surmounted by small domes and connected by a balustraded porch with a large central frame.

History of studies
The church is the subject of a brief summary in Salvatore Naitza's volume on late seventeenth-century and purist architecture (1992).

Bibliography by
R. Salinas, “The Development of Architecture in Sardinia from Gothic to Baroque”, in Proceedings of the XIII Congress on the History of Architecture. Sardegna, I, Rome, 1966;
S. Naitza, Architecture from the late 17th century to purist classicism. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1992, sheet 4.