The Church of San Rocco, now located in one of the city’s most densely populated neighborhoods, was originally the country church of the Istelladas area, the name given to the sheep that produced lambs for slaughter, a place of worship attended mostly by farmers and shepherds, and the ancient seat of the Gremio dei lattai.
Although the year of construction is unknown, the building is thought to have been erected during the 17th century.
The cult of St. Roch, in fact, spread in the Island from the mid-17th century when the plague raged. The Building consists of a single square hall supported by a white limestone arch, at the ends of which two cannonballs are set. Their presence recalls the 1793 defense of the city of Cagliari. Above the entrance lintel stands an aristocratic coat of arms no longer legible, belonging to the benefactor family that erected the building.
The small bell tower is of the “sail” type, characterized by a thin wall structure and a modest bell, typical of minor or rural churches that did not need to call a large number of worshippers to prayer.
The church altar retains the year it was made (1814) and is in the Baroque style. In the antependium, that is, the frontal part, a snake is depicted clutching a staff. The statue of St. Roch, which towers in the niche above the altar, is attributed to Giuseppe Lonis, Sardinia’s leading 18th-century sculptor.
After the church was abandoned by the Gremio dei lattai in 1864, the building suffered collapses and was uninhabitable. After the war, the Opera di San Rocco, a shelter reserved for poor children, arose there. It was not until 1977 that the church of St. Roch was able to be reborn to new life thanks to the establishment of the Community of St. Roch, which promoted its restoration carried out in 1991.
