Alghero, Church of Mercy

With its façade, the church dominates the Borgo, the southernmost district of the historic center, and through Via Principe Umberto it communicates with the bell tower of the Duomo.
The Misericordia church overlooks the homonymous square with its austere façade, and was partly rebuilt following the damage suffered during the bombings of the last world war. It was built in 1662 by the Brotherhood of Mercy, and starting in 1738 officiated by the Observant Minors, who moved there after the demolition, in 1718, of their church of Santa Maria della Pietà. They occupied the church and the adjoining convent for just over a century, being forced to abandon it around the middle of the 19th century, following the approval of laws suppressing religious orders. Today, the church is entrusted to the sisters “Daughters of the Church”, and it continues to be one of the centers for the collection of popular devotion in Alghero, as it houses the sixteenth-century Crucifix, which arrived fortunately in the seventeenth century on a Spanish sailing ship that was shipwrecked in the Bay of Porto Conte due to a storm, and still carried through the streets of the city today in one of the most suggestive processions of the Holy Week in Alghero.
The building, in its simplicity, presents late-Renaissance characteristics in the typical variant of counter-reform architecture.
The structure has a single apsed room, flanked by two chapels on each side. The central aisle has a cross shape, while of the four side chapels, three have a cross vault and one a barrel vault. The vault of the apse is made of bricks, unlike the rest of the church, which has stone vaults.
The façade is simple, gable, and flanked by two bell towers, one with sail on the right side and one with a square barrel surmounted by a small dome on the left side. At the center of the façade there is a beautiful portal framed by pilasters and surmounted by a tympanum. The latter has a seventeenth-century frieze with the Virgin and Child and two Friars Minor in prayer. Under the tympanum we can read a small plaque dated 1814, bearing the invocation to Our Lady “Ave Maria Mater Misericordiae Ora Pro Nobis”.
The former seat of the convent, on the other hand, was recently converted into a retirement for the elderly.

History of studies
News about the church can be found in various publications on Alghero.

Bibliography
P. Nonis, “Churches and sanctuaries of the territory of Alghero”, in Alghero: cara de roses, Cagliari, Editrice Sarda F.lli Fossataro, 1951, pp. 360-365;
S. Colomo, Guide to Alghero and surroundings, Sassari, 1984;
E. Valsecchi, Monuments of the historic center of Alghero, Sassari, New Community, 1995; A. Ingegno, The historic center of Alghero: notes for research, Oristano, Sassari, 1996; L. Deriu, Alghero: the ancient city, Sassari, 1995;
A. Ingegno, The historic center of Alghero: notes for research, Oristano, Sassari, 1996; L. Deriu, Alghero: the ancient city, Sassari, Carlo Delfino,
2000.

How to get there
Starting from the central Piazza Sulis, you enter the historic center through Via Carlo Alberto; soon after you reach Piazza Ginnasio and turn left. About 200 meters later you arrive at the Piazza della Misericordia, which is overlooked by the homonymous church.