The church of St. Avendrace, named after the first-century A.D. bishop of Cagliari, is located at the cent of the avenue of the same name, preceded by a walled courtyard. The present façade is characterized by a two-light bell gable tower above a simple wall in which the portal surmounted by a rectangular window opens. The building’s numerous reconstructions prevent a secure dating of the church, which stands on the probable site of the saint’s martyrdom. Of the seventeenth-century phase of the church remains a drawing by Carmona attached to a manuscript preserved in the Cagliari University Library. Its history blurs with that of the borough, which remained separate from the rest of the city at least until Cagliari ceased to be a military stronghold in 1866 and was deprived of its navy walls. The building’s one-nave interior is covered by a vault supported by pointed diaphragm arches, while the side chapels are concluded by barrel vaults. Near the entrance, on the floor, a passageway is practicable that leads into the crypt, a hypogeic environment that is usually referred to the Phoenician-Punic age.
