Guasila, Church of the Assumption Virgin

The statue of Saint Peter, which dominates the altar of the chapel of Santa Maria, according to popular memory, derives from the parish church of the village of Sennoru, which has disappeared and is located about 1 km from Guasila. The toponymy still preserves its name and the same appears in ancient documents. Stone was found there in large quantities, deriving from the buildings of the disappeared village.
Designed by the Cagliari architect Gaetano Cima, the parish church was built between 1842 and 1852. Neoclassical in style, it follows the style expressed several times by Cima in its buildings, referring to first-rate monuments, such as the Church of the Great Mother of God in Turin and the Roman Pantheon itself. It has an octagonal plan, from which there are powerful columns, which support the majestic dome. The central body is preceded to NO by the pronaos with six Doric columns, which are accessed via a short staircase. The same pattern is repeated in S, but this time closed, with pseudo-columns in sandstone blocks.
The building faces the square in front, later widened to give it the right breathing space, forming the focal point of the town. The project, entrusted to the entrepreneur Cosimo Crobu, underwent significant changes during the execution, especially with reference to the external part. Inside, the parish church is rich in marble and significant paintings. This is the case of the dome, with geometric and floral motifs in segments, which from the base reach its center, ending in a lantern. Two major chapels, one dedicated to the Sleeping Virgin Assumption, according to Greek Orthodox usage, the other dedicated to the Dead Christ (the simulacrum is attributed to Antioco Lonis, Senorbì's sculptor active in the 18th century), architecturally accompany the main altar, separated from the remaining circular body by a marble balustrade. In the niche of the altar there is the statue of the Assumption Virgin, to whom the temple is dedicated. The chapels are interspersed with four other smaller chapels. Next to the main altar are the sacristy. Several elements of the old parish church are also preserved, such as the pulpit and the baptismal font, as well as a beautiful holy water fountain.
The Cima parish church is flanked by a pre-existing eighteenth-century bell tower, about 35 m high.

History of studies
A review of the studies can be found in the bibliography relating to the fact sheet in the volume of the “History of Art in Sardinia” on sixteenth-nineteenth-century architecture (1992).

Bibliography:
S. Naitza, Architecture from the late 17th century to purist classicism. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1992, sheet 82.