Cagliari Cathedral was built in the 13th century in the Pisan-Romanesque style and later renovated in the Baroque style. Both can be seen here…
Every Easter, the Cagliari branch of the Confraternita del Gonfalone carries a likeness of Sant’Efisio from its church in the quarter of Stampace up to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria e Santa Cecilia, aka Cagliari Cathedral. Efisio was a Roman soldier sent to Sardinia by Diocletian to suppress Christianity. Instead he had a vision and was converted. His treachery to the emperor would cost him his life. His cult has run deep here ever since and his acts of mercy on the people of Cagliari are manifold. In 1656, he is said to have delivered the city from plague; he is also credited with lifting a French siege in 1793. He is, unsurprisingly, the city’s patron saint. But his relics lie in Pisa, and when the time came to renovate the façade of Cagliari Cathedral, the new design again took its inspiration from there.
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