Pabillonis, Church of Santa Maria della Neve

The parish church is located in the northern part of the urban center of Pabillonis, along the SP4 road, and occupies a rectangle spared at the intersection between the streets of San Giovanni and A. Gramsci.
The Church of the Blessed Virgin of the Snow is located in the urban heart of the town, not far from the church of San Giovanni Battista, presumably built in the 16th century. According to tradition, the ancient town was located a short distance from the banks of Flumini Mannu, near the rural church dedicated to San Lussorio, which constituted the parish church; subsequently, when the new church dedicated to the Virgin was built, the population moved slowly around it, going to constitute the new settlement nucleus. At the current state of study, there is no certain information on the date of its construction: the most accredited thesis places it in the middle of the 16th century or, at the latest, at the beginning of the 17th century. The original structure of the church, smaller than the one currently visible, was a Latin cross, with two side chapels called “del Rosario” and “del Purgatory”.
In the 17th century, the religious building was subject to significant expansion: in 1634 the presbytery was extended by about 11 meters and a barrel roof was built; in 1638 the new sacristy was built with a masonry vault; in 1655 the other vaulted roofs were built. In 1859, work began on the construction of the main marble altar: there was an older one, made of wood and richly decorated, which was heavily damaged by a fire and then transferred to the church of San Giovanni; on the same date, the marble balustrade was built, which replaced the older one in wood, and the floor of the presbytery and choir was redone in marble squares.
At the beginning of the 19th century, work began on the construction of the bell tower and in 1982 the churchyard was built behind the façade, which is located flush with one of the main streets of the town.
Today, the church has a single-nave structure, barrel-covered along its entire length, with side chapels that are placed on the sides of the main nave and connected to each other by means of rounded arched openings. The façade is sober, enclosed by a horizontal terminal on which a toothed frame is set. The portal, large and wooden, is enclosed by two stone pilasters arranged obliquely according to an architectural module that was very common in Sardinia in the eighteenth century. The bell tower, massive and quadrangular, is made of limestone and sandstone.
Overall, the church of Santa Maria della Neve represents an important example of religious architecture from the 17th century in the Middle Campidano, which houses valuable paintings and sacred furniture of strong artistic interest.

History of excavations and studies
The events of the church of Santa Maria della Neve are known from archival sources, mainly acts relating to the structural interventions that it underwent. In literature it has been known since the 19th century: Vittorio Angius, in dealing with the territory of Pabillonis, reports that “The main church is dedicated to SS. Virgin of the title in the snow.”

Bibliography
M. Brigaglia, S. Tola (edited by), Historical and geographical dictionary of the municipalities of Sardinia, Sassari 2009, sv. Pabillonis.
S. Tomasi, The memories of the past. Notes on diocesan history by Msgr. Severino Tomasi, Villacidro 1997. A. Pillitu, Churches and sacred art in Sardinia. Diocese of Ales-Terralba, Sestu 2001. V. Angius, Nineteenth-century towns and villages of Sardinia. Pabiloni-Zuri, “Sardinian Library” series. Great Works” (ed. edited by L. CARTA), Nuoro 2006, sv. Pabillonis. Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Provinces of Cagliari and Oristano, Pratica Chiesa di Santa Maria di Pabillonis (1981), in the SBAPSAE Archive.