Nuoro, Church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Facade
Nuoro, Church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Facade - CC BY 3.0 Sailko, Commons Wikimedia - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuoro,_chiesa_della_madonna_della_solitudine,_esterno_01.jpg

Nuoro
Church of the Madonna della Solitudine

The church of the Madonna della Solitudine, located at the foot of Monte Ortobene, Nuoro, was built in 1625. 
It was originally a simple country church located outside the town and dedicated to the Madonna Addolorata (Our Lady of Sorrows), a place where shepherds and farmers gathered for celebrations and festivals in honour of the Virgin. 

Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Tomb of Grazia Deledda
Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Tomb of Grazia Deledda - CC BY 3.0 Sailko, Commons Wikimedia - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuoro,_chiesa_della_madonna_della_solitudine,_interno,_tomba_di_grazia_deledda.jpg

The church is now the final resting place of Grazia Deledda, who was particularly tied to this little church, giving it a key role in her novel by the same name, La chiesa della solitudine (The Church of Solitude), published in 1936.

In 1947, the church was redesigned by Giovanni Ciusa Romagna to contain the writer’s tomb. The artist stayed faithful to the simplicity of the original design, even taking inspiration from a few passages in Deledda’s novel. 

Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Altar
Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Altar - CC BY 3.0 Sailko, Commons Wikimedia - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuoro,_chiesa_della_madonna_della_solitudine,_interno,_altare.jpg

The modesty of the church, which is small in size but profoundly poetic and suited to deep devotion, is underlined by the simple gabled facade with its little bell, the exposed beams of the ceiling and the formal purity of the semicircular apse.

The church’s unique decorations make it a precious, inimitable jewel. They were made in the second half of the 1950s by two Sassari artists: the sculptor Gavino Tilocca, who carved the marble relief of the Madonna and Child in the apse, and the designer Eugenio Tavolara, who was in charge of the overall decorative programme, including the entrance door, the fourteen Stations of the Cross on the side walls, the door of the tabernacle, the candelabra, the crucifix and the bell.

Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Bronze portal, work of the sculptor Eugenio Tavolara
Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Bronze portal, work of the sculptor Eugenio Tavolara - CC BY-SA 4.0 Aggrucar, Commons Wikimedia - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portale_chiesa_della_Solitudine.jpg
Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Central nave
Nuoro, church of the Madonna della Solitudine. Central nave - © CCIAA NU

References to the Sardinian tradition are especially noticeable in the large bronze door, which combines fine decoration and religious profundity.
The door of the church of Solitudine is filled with sophisticated symbolic references to be admired and deciphered by devoted believers and simple visitors alike.

Contact

Address:
Strada Provinciale 42, 08100 Nuoro NU, Italia