Nuoro, Ancient Church of Grazie

The church is located in the district of Seuna, which together with that of San Pietro gave rise to the historic center of Nuoro.
On October 22, 1679, Francesco López de Urraca, bishop of Alghero, granted Nicolau Ruju Manca the “permission to build a church in honor of the Virgin of Grace of Nuoro.” With this official act, the history of the Church of Grazie begins, a building that is to be considered one of the most important in the city of Nuoro.
The sanctuary, built on the outskirts of the town, on the slope that slopes towards the Mughina valley, is oriented according to an N/S axis and in the past it rose above the modest houses of the Seuna district. Around the church there were other rooms, all assets that the founder left as an ecclesiastical heritage in his will; these properties passed to the Jesuits around 1720, who established their residence there.
For almost two hundred years, the building, despite various events, was always a vital point of reference for the city. At the beginning of the twentieth century, due to the substantial demographic increase, Fathers Joseppini expressed their desire to build a larger building. A long abandonment began for the ancient sanctuary, characterized by endless restoration work and building expansion that have unfortunately stifled and changed the relationship between the building and the urban context.
The church is made of irregularly sized stone tied with lime mortar. The structural scheme is very simple: mononave room turned into a barrel, a square, narrow and raised presbytery, three altars on each side that replace the chapels. A double serrated and strongly projecting frame runs throughout the aisle, recalling typical characters of Jesuit architecture. The exterior is characterized by a large rose window and a portal of mainly Renaissance forms, consisting of two semi-columns on which a double molded lintel rests, surmounted by a triangular tympanum where the church's commemorative inscription is located. The semicolumns rest on low plinths leaning against the walls while the jambs are decorated with zoomorphic figures that refer to the Gothic-Catalan decorative language. The popular connotation of the church is particularly evident in the façade that overlooks Via delle Grazie, characterized by loggias that interrupt, lighten it, the massive volume of the building.
Inside, during the restoration work in 1982, eighteenth-century wall temperas were discovered. The paintings occupy the entire surface of the walls, the vault and the arch that separates the presbytery from the classroom. They are characterized by a synthetic and popular style, with which a catechesis project is expressed also through a careful choice of the color range. There are few colors used: green, red, ochre, which, repeating and alternating in the pictorial cycle and in the frames, harmonize well with the elements already present. The stylistic link with the painting of the Are is evident, based on the comparison between the temperas of Nuoro and those of Orani, Fonni, Tonara. The affinities between the cycles can be seen both in the spatial and composition setting, in the chromatic choice, and in the custom of often using cartridges with a didactic function.

Bibliography by
M.G. Scano, 17th and 18th century painting and sculpture, series “History of Art in Sardinia”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1991;
F. Dini, The Church of Grace, Nuoro, 2001.