The church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is located in Cagliari, along Viale Trieste, a short distance from Piazza Carmine. The feast in its honor is celebrated on July 16, and the devotion is linked to a legend that tells of a wooden statue inside the church, which was brought from Mount Carmel to Rome and gifted to a member of the Ripoli family of Neoneli. During the journey to Cagliari, he was saved from a storm, and in gratitude, he built a chapel in her honor, where the statue—now an object of great devotion for many faithful—is kept today.
In 1943, the church was destroyed by aerial bombings during World War II, which also affected the city of Cagliari. Reconstruction began in 1945 in a style reminiscent of Romanesque-Pisan architecture, featuring a tall bell tower topped with a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, created by sculptor Franco D’Aspro. The rebuilding was completed in 1953, and the church was consecrated on December 8 of the same year.
**Description:** The so-called “Miraculous Madonna” was, according to tradition, carved from a Lebanese cedar trunk, and as reported by Spano, Pintor, and the Carmelite Review, it may date back to the 11th century. The Virgin is depicted full-length, holding the Child Jesus in her arms. In her right hand, she holds a scapular, and in her left, her Son. Both mother and child wear crowns. The dress is of Spanish fashion and entirely covered with ex-votos. Except for the white bodice and cape, the dress is no longer the original Spanish one but was made from a gown belonging to Maria Cristina of Savoy, wife of the future King Carlo Felice.
There is also a second statue from the 20th century, created by Vincenzo Mussner of Ortisei, commissioned by the Capitta family, who had it sculpted to fulfill a vow made to the Virgin.
**Date of Use:** Between 1500 and 1600
**Image:** Statue
**Original Location of the Sanctuary:** Ex-votos were hung on the Virgin’s dress.
**Notes on the Collection:** These are gold objects donated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel by prominent noble families of Sardinia. On July 15, 1668, the Marquis of Camarassa, Viceroy of Sardinia, hung a golden eagle adorned with emeralds, rubies, and pearls—a gift from Queen Marianna of Austria of Spain—on the Virgin’s dress.
**Type of Ex-Votos:** Jewelry, Other
**Current Preservation:** They adorn the dress covering the ancient statue.
**1580 (pre-existing structure)**
The original sacred building dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel was constructed in Viale Trieste, Cagliari, in 1580. The earliest written record of the church’s existence dates back to 1580. In Giovanni Francesco Fara’s *In Sardiniae Chorographia*, composed that same year, the author notes that *”item Carmelitanorum monasterium, eius templum magnifica nunc construitur fabrica”*—meaning the Carmelite monastery was under construction at the time.
As for the chapel where the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is venerated, it likely dates to 1608. However, the first Carmelite settlement in the Cagliari area is believed to have been established by a group of hermits from Catalonia, who took over a convent located on the promontory of Sant’Elia near the Torre della Lanterna. Due to repeated Barbary pirate raids—which plagued Sardinia’s coasts throughout the modern era—the monks were forced to abandon the site and relocate inland, settling outside the walls of Castello, between the Stampace and Marina districts, where the religious complex still stands today.
Scholars disagree on the exact date of the Carmelites’ arrival on the island. Mario Pintor (*La chiesa del Carmine*, see bibliography) argues that their presence in Sardinia dates back to ancient times, while Scano mentions the 15th century, Angius and Martini cite 1506, and Spada refers to 1509.
**The Legend of the Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel**
Tradition holds that the small statue of the Virgin was brought from Mount Carmel to Rome and then gifted to a nobleman of the Ripoli family of Neoneli, a Sardinian family of Valencian origin. During the voyage from Rome to Cagliari, the ship carrying the Sardinian nobleman miraculously survived a terrible storm. In gratitude, he built a chapel in honor of the Virgin, placing the statue there—where it is still venerated today. The chapel bore the coat of arms of the Neoneli family.
Another account claims the statue was carved around 1200 by monks from Mount Carmel as a gift to Pope Innocent III, who later donated it to the city of Cagliari. Gerolamo Peralta, in his *Edizioni Sivigliane*, states that the chapel was built by nobleman Gaspare De Piras after the Virgin saved him and his family from various misfortunes.
Tradition also holds that the chapel housing the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was erected in 1608 at the behest of a member of the Neoneli family, who wished to express gratitude to the Virgin for saving him from a shipwreck.
Viale Trieste, 11, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
