Erected in the 18th century, the church is located opposite the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. In ancient times it was named after St. Gavino, since the confraternity of the Bainzini(Bainzu is the name of Gavino in the Logudorese dialect), established in 1616 following the discovery of the bodies of the martyrs Gavino, Proto and Gianuario during the 1614 excavations in the Basilica of St. Gavino in Porto Torres ordered by Archbishop Manca Cedrelles, was based there. Inside, the Austrian coat of arms with a double-headed eagle and the motto “quis ut Deus,” located on the right side of the nave, attest that the present church was built between 1708 and 1717. The church has a single nave covered with a barrel vault and a semicircular apse. On either side are two chapels. The wooden retable is located in the first chapel on the left and consists of four niches: St. Michael (top) while facing Satan; bottom St. Gavino (middle), St. Januarius (left) and St. Proto (right). From this chapel there is access to the crypt, which extends in a corridor fashion along the length of the church. Its construction dates back to the 1600s and clearly mimics the coeval crypt existing in the Basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres where the relics of the Turritan martyrs are kept. It houses the picture gallery and the section known as archaeology and popular piety of the Diocesan Museum of Sassari.
