Despite its unassuming facade, the Chiesa di Sant’Efisio is of considerable local importance – not for any artistic or architectural reasons but rather for its ties to St Ephisius, Cagliari’s patron saint. A Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and was later beheaded for refusing to recant his faith, St Ephisius is the star of the city’s big 1 May festivities. The effigy of the saint that is paraded around the city on a beautifully ornate carozza (carriage) is kept here.
Over the centuries, the saint has stood the city in good stead, saving the populace from the plague in 1652 – when the church got its marble makeover – and repelling Napoleon’s fleet in 1793 by stirring up the storm that sent them packing.
At the side of the church is the entrance to the crypt where St Ephisius was supposedly held before being executed in Nora (near Pula). It’s marked in stone – Carcer Sancti Ephysii M (Prison of the Martyr St Ephisius) – and retains the column where Ephisius was tied during his incarceration.