Cagliari, Church of Santa Lucia

The church is in the district that was the hub of political and religious power in Cagliari between the 13th and 19th centuries.
The church of Santa Lucia probably dates back to 1536 when the viceroy of Sardinia donated it, with the adjacent monastery, to a group of Clarisse nuns sent to Cagliari from Barcelona by Pope Paul III.
The church has no real façade and is confused with the adjacent buildings. The interior, much remodeled, however, has the characteristics of Gothic-Catalan in its Sardinian declination.
The church has a single nave, divided into two cross-vaulted bays dotted with a pendulous gem in the center. The presbytery, slightly narrower than the classroom, is covered by a starry vault with ogival ribs and pendulous gemstones, and is connected to the classroom by a pointed arch that unloads onto Gothic-Catalan capitals.
On the d side, in the second bay, there are two rectangular chapels, the second of which is covered by a vault formed by a square cross with a pendulous gem and a half cross whose gem is embedded in the arc connecting to the classroom. The solution of the ovival half-crosses dotted with gemstones embedded in the arch or wall can be found in two other buildings, always built in the Castle in the first half of the 16th century: the Church of Hope and the Sacristy of the Beneficiaries in the cathedral.
The first d-shaped chapel, equal in size to the second, has a Renaissance-style roof with a lunetted barrel vault that was probably built between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. The chapels on the south side are created from the communication rooms with the adjacent monastery; the entrance of the first one is framed by a Renaissance-style portal that is considered to be coeval with the first chapel on the d side.

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

Bibliography
G. Spano, Guide to the city and surroundings of Cagliari, Cagliari, Timon, 1861;
M. Freddi, “The Cagliari church of Santa Lucia in Castello”, in Studi Sardi, XVI, 1960;
R. Serra, “The parishes of Assemini, Sestu and Settimo S. Pietro. Notes for a history of late Gothic architecture in Sardinia”, in Proceedings of the XIII Congress on the History of Architecture. Sardinia, Rome, 1966;
R. Serra, “Sardinian-Catalan Architecture”, in The Catalans in Sardinia, edited by J. Carbonell-F.Manconi, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1984;
A. Sari, “The Architecture of the Sixteenth Century”, in Sardinian society in the Spanish Age, edited by F.Manconi, I, Quart, Regional Council of Sardinia, 1992; F. Segni Pulvirenti - A. Sari, Late Gothic and Renaissance-influenced architecture. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1994, sheet 36;
Archdiocese of Cagliari, series “Churches and Sacred Art in Sardinia”, Cagliari, Zonza, 1999;
S. Murgia, Muravera and its churches in archival documents, Dolianova, Grafica del Parteolla, 2005.