Nulvi, Church of Santa Maria Assunta

Nulvi (478 m above sea level) It is a modest village with a linear plan located between vineyards and wheat fields and located on the slopes of the small limestone plateau of Mount San Lorenzo (581 m above sea level).
The current structure of the Church of the Assumption is due to a profound renovation that took place in the last quarter of the 18th century on a pre-existing building, probably late Gothic, of which traces remain in surviving furnishings and in the two presbyterial lions. The work was carried out with the financial support of the Ozierese nobleman Andrea Satta.
Despite the numerous expansions and renovations that have affected the sacred building, the numerous stylistic features have been reabsorbed into a fairly unitary complex that finds in the bright and dynamic succession of domed rooms, in the spectacular presbytery and in the rich high altar, an effective synthesis of late Baroque trends in the provincial context at the end of the 18th century.
The interior of the church has three naves with side chapels. The central aisle is covered with a nailed barrel vault and reinforced with round arches.
The building, as in other cases of turn-of-the-century buildings, is brightly illuminated in the presbytery area where three domes serve as a source of light and spatial expansion. Precisely the spread of domes in Sardinia can be considered as a real change in the autochthonous taste that took shape in the 18th century and concerns many sacred buildings in all areas of the island.
The elegant façade started from pilasters and houses a portal with a curved tympanum and a small rose window. The upper order, surmounted by a curvilinear nuisance, is connected to the lower one by means of two curly terminals.
The simplicity of the façade is enlivened by the presence of the octagonal barrel bell tower. Made of perfectly squared exposed ashlars, it is punctuated by jutting marcapiano frames. The bell cell is particularly elaborate, with corner pilasters surmounted by a continuous frieze and four curved windows alternating with the smooth mirrors of the wall. The structure ends with a balustraded enclosure inside which the elegant cuspidated room is housed.

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 of
S. Naitza, Architecture from the late 17th century to purist classicism. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1992, sheet 41.