The church and convent of St. Anthony are located in an area where there was once a church dedicated first to St. Lucy and then to St. Gregory Nazianzen and the Virgin of Grace.
Built between 1898 and 1904, they represent the fruit of the efforts of Father Ferdinando Diotallevi who, together with his confrere Father Giuseppe Gasparini, became the promoter of the Franciscan revival in Sardinia after the suppression of religious orders and the forced exodus from the island in the mid-19th century. The church consecrated on December 27, 1904, is a typical expression of late 19th century artistic eclecticism in which classicist nostalgia and Gothic elements coexist. The tall, narrow facade concludes with a triangular gable brought up with two curved wings. In the single mirror opens in the center the rectangular portal circumscribed by a molded cornice and crowned by a semicircular lunette. Above it is an archiacute mullioned window sandwiched between two equally pointed lights. The facade has recently been completed with the two statues depicting St. Francis and St. Clare, while the lunette depicts St. Anthony. The short bell tower with pyramidal roofing has a square plan. Wide ogival lights open in the belfry.
The interior has a cruciform plan, and the intersection of the arms is topped by an octagonal dome, connected by smooth triangular plumes to the four pillars that circumscribe the central square. Two large semipolygonal chapels overlook the latter. The presbytery, substantially modified by renovations in the 1970s and 1980s, has a quadrangular plan, concluded by a semicircular apse.
The roof is barrel-vaulted, punctuated by round arches set on a molded cornice above flat pilasters that punctuate the side walls. Between the arms of the cross are four small rooms communicating with the nave through round arches and with the central chapels through pointed arches. On December 19, 1954, by decree of Monsignor Paolo Botto, archbishop of Cagliari, the church of St. Anthony was erected a parish.
