It was built in 1663 as thanksgiving for Ales being spared from the great plague of the previous decade. Rebuilt almost entirely in 1724 and 1838, it has undergone continuous restoration. The troubled life of this church, reopened for worship in 1999, preserves three centuries of Ales’ most active life: It housed the first school in the diocese from 1671; it was the oratory of the gremii of peasants and artisans, who were summoned by different tolls of its bells; the seat of the Mutual Aid Society; the scene of the country’s most folkloric festival (invitation to the feast by a crowd of children crossing the streets to the sound of bells, fogadoni in the square, launeddas concert by local artisans). The church has a vaulted roof, Baroque facade with a small bell gable and upper gable in the shape of two S’s converging on the cross.
