Assemini, Church of San Pietro

The town extends into the plain to the N of the Santa Gilla pond, near the mouths of the Cixerri and Flumini Mannu rivers.
The parish church of San Pietro di Assemini is fully part of the Gothic-Catalan architectural typology, in particular in its variant of southern Sardinian architecture.
The church derives its pattern from that of the parish church of San Giacomo in the Villanova district of Cagliari, whose oldest attestation dates back to 1346, and whose reconstruction in late Gothic forms dates back to the 15th century, the bell tower factory being attested between 1438 and 1442. Of this pattern (characterized by the presence of a square-barrel bell tower on one side of the façade with a flat crenellated end and with oblique spurs, a quadrangular presbytery narrower and lower than the mononave hall, on which the side chapels are inserted), the parish church of Assemini takes up all the elements.
The façade has a flat crenellated end and a pointed portal with an eyebrow, above which there is a large quadrangular open light to replace the original oculus. The façade is further defined by two oblique buttresses, whose function was to balance the thrust exerted by the cross vault of the first span, and the square-barreled bell tower on the s side, which, developed on four orders, is one of the highest on the island.
The interior is divided into a single-aisled classroom punctuated by four pointed arches to which correspond to very deep buttresses. Among them, the side chapels were opened at different times, three on the west side and four on the d side; the presbytery, raised by a step above the classroom, connects to the body of the building through a transept whose arms are no deeper than the chapels; the second chapel stands out externally compared to the others, being divided into two bays.
At present, there are no documents or inscriptions that make it possible to establish a precise chronology of the different construction phases, from the primitive layout to the opening of the chapels, to the reconstruction of the presbyterial area, phases that can still be deduced by stylistic means.
The original structure, which includes the façade, the first two orders of the bell tower (the two upper ones are from the eighteenth century) and the supporting arches of the room, dates back to between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century. The chapels, although at different times, were all built in the 16th century. The reconstruction of the presbyterial area, which involved a total transformation of the main chapel (now of the same width and height as the room) and the addition of the transept, dates back to no earlier than the end of the sixteenth century; the solution of the roof at the intersection with the classroom was resolved with a large cross vault ribbed with a pendulous gem, while the arms and the presbytery have a barrel vault.

History of studies Previously
studied by Renata Serra, the church is the subject of a brief summary in the volume by Francesca Segni Pulvirenti and Aldo Sari on late Gothic and Renaissance architecture (1994).

Bibliography by
G. Spano, “Christian Antiquities of Assemini”, in Sardinian Archaeological Bulletin, VII, 1861, pp. 133-139;
R. Serra, “The parish churches of Assemini, Sestu and Settimo San Pietro. Notes for a history of late Gothic architecture in Sardinia”, in Proceedings of the XIII Congress on the History of Architecture. Sardegna, I, Rome, 1966, pp. 225-243;
R. Serra, “Sardinian-Catalan Architecture”, in I Catalani in Sardegna, edited by J. Carbonell-F. Manconi, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1984, pp. 125-154;
A.M. Lecca, “The Church of St. Peter”, in Assemini. History and society, edited by G. Sorgia, Assemini, Municipality of Assemini, 1986, pp. 143-156;
F. Segni Pulvirenti - A. Sari, Late Gothic and Renaissance Architecture. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1994, sheet 10.