Oristano, Carmine Church

The territory of Oristano has been rich in settlements since prehistoric times. The urban center, formed in the Byzantine era, was the capital of the Giudicato di Arborea and, although reduced in size, maintained its importance in the following centuries.
The Carmine complex is considered the masterpiece of the Piedmontese military engineer Giuseppe Viana, as well as the most valuable and accomplished example of Rococo in Sardinia.
A pupil of Benedetto Alfieri, Viana arrived in Sardinia in 1771 with positions as a military meter employed by Piedmontese engineering officers under the Royal Artillery Corps, who played a large part not only in the fortifications but also in the construction of important architectural monuments on the island.
The project for the Carmelite convent complex with the adjoining church dates back to 1776 but the work was completed only in 1785. The project earned Giuseppe Viana, in 1777, the title of Royal Architect in Sardinia, awarded to him by the College of Builders of Turin. In 1866, the convent became the headquarters of the Command of the Carabinieri Corps and currently, after a recent restoration, it is used as a place for cultural events.
The convent's façade has regular doors and windows surrounded by simple frames. The church, which is embedded in the S and E sides of the complex, has a sandstone façade, punctuated by smooth and unremarkable pilasters surmounted by Ionic capitals. In the center, above the large portal, are inserted a marble plaque and the coat of arms of the D'Arcais house to which Don Damiano Nurra belonged, who financed the work later donated to the Carmelites in 1782. In the upper part of the façade, a large reniform window is inserted, breaking them, between the light marcapian frame and the tympanum, above which a baroque pillar supports a small cross. In a position set back from the façade, the bell tower and the dome are inserted, both covered with colorful majolica tiles. The interior, well proportioned and harmonious, has a single nave on which four identical chapels overlook. In the presbyterial area, the arches of the elevated gallery that surrounds the altar open up, illuminating it, while a tall and bright tiburium supports the elliptical dome, typically Rococo.

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, “Piedmontese Architects in Sardinia”, in Proceedings of the 10th Congress on the History of Architecture, Rome, 1959;
A. Cavallari Murat, “Giuseppe Viana, Savoy architect in Sardinia”, in Proceedings and Technical Review of the Society of Engineers and Architects in Turin, XIV, n. 12, 1960;
A. Cavallari Murat, “Investigation into the expansion of Piedmontese eighteenth-century architecture in Sardinia”, in Bulletin of the Center for Studies for the History of Architecture, 17, 1961; C.
Maltese, Art in Sardinia from V to XVIII, Rome, De Luca, 1962;
A. Cavallari Murat, “The Architecture of the Eighteenth Century in Sardinia”, in Proceedings of the
XIII Congress on the History of Architecture. Sardinia, Rome, 1963;
V. Mossa, From Gothic to Baroque in Sardinia, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 1982;
S. Naitza, Architecture from the late 17th century to purist classicism. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1992, sheet 22.