What to see · Quartu Sant'Elena

More places of interest

• Chiesa di Sant'Andrea

  The church of Sant'Andrea is one of the churches of Quartu Sant'Elena. It stands on via Leonardo da Vinci, in the middle of the Andrea Parodi park, in the locality of Sant'Andrea, part of the district of Flumini di Quartu.

  What to see

  The church dates from the fifteenth century and probably stands on an earlier Roman temple; in the seventeenth century it underwent a major restoration. It is in Catalan Gothic style: the façade ends in a cornice crowned with indented battlements and is topped by a small bell gable, with a rose window in the centre through which light enters. At the sides of the building are three buttresses; on the right side, between the buttresses, are the dispensa, a hall used for the Sagra of Saint John the Baptist, and the sacristy.

  The interior has a single nave, with ten masonry pillars that widen upwards and support the roof. The presbytery is raised a few steps above the nave and before it there is a door on each side. In the building there are elements of the Roman period, such as a column base on which a Corinthian capital is set. The most important wooden furnishings are the statues of Saint Andrew, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Anthony of Padua.

  Visiting

  The church is on via Leonardo da Vinci, in the middle of the Andrea Parodi park. The most important celebrations are in December, for the feast of Saint Andrew, on 24 June and on the last Sunday of July, for the feast of Saint John: dates and times should be checked. According to the sources the church was recently renovated; opening hours are not given.

  Our editors' tip

  In the sixteenth century, when country fairs were numerous, the church was a target of pirate raids, so that in 1621 the viceroy forbade pilgrimages to take place at night. In 1793, when the troops of revolutionary France landed at Quartu and occupied the church as a small fort, the fight that drove the French out of the Quartu territory took place here.

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