The court in Giorgino is a complex of considerable historical value, bound by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, of which the little church of St. Ephisius is part, in which, the martyr St. Ephisius has always been welcomed, in what is the first stage of the long journey to the place of his martyrdom in Nora. The building layout consists of the small church and courtyard dedicated to St. Ephisius, declared, by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, of artistic and historical interest under Law 1089 of 1939. The Church, and the adjacent sacristy rooms, chariot storehouse and side rooms adhere to the manor house to form a single complex that recalls the form of the “court,” that is, the suburban villa that was originally part of the country property of the Counts Ciarella, ancestors of the Counts Ballero, to whose family the ownership of the complex still belongs. In 2004 the church was restored at the behest of the Ballero family and the Municipality of Cagliari. The building is of seventeenth-century architectural lines, with octagonal dome, simple facade with bell gable, in which is the bell, original dated 1679, two-pitch covered hall, with eighteenth-century altar and original floor in hand-painted majolica in the seventeenth century.
In the small church of Giorgino takes place the first stop of the long procession in honor of St. Ephisius. Here on May 1 the change of robes and precious jewels takes place, replaced with more modest ones suitable for the journey to Nora, and the exchange of the eighteenth-century chariot for a sturdier one, known as the “country chariot,” kept throughout the year in the room adjoining the chapel, an operation in which members of the Ballero family, especially the younger generation, are involved. On May 4, the reverse operation is carried out to return to the city. It is difficult to date the beginning of this ceremony of which, however, there is also a record in acts reporting a meeting of the Archconfraternity of S. Efisio in 1787 in which the stopover in Giorgino is discussed.
The church is located along St. Ephisius’ route to Nora, made exceptionally on May 1, 1943 aboard the Gorini company’s milk truck instead of the traditional chariot.
