Chiesa San Pantaleo, Sorso

The church of San Pantaleo is a religious building located in Sorso, a town in northwestern Sardinia. Consecrated to Catholic worship, it is the seat of the parish of the same name and is part of the archdiocese of Sassari.

Named after the town's patron saint, it was built in 1836 by Sassarese-born Antonio Cano in the space where the old parish church stood, whose materials he reused. The facade was almost finished in June 1840, but the sudden death of the designer three months later caused a slowdown in work. The commission to carry on the building was given to Sassaresi architects Francesco Agnesa and Angelo Maria Piretto, but numerous interruptions and disputes characterized the continuation. Although not yet finished, the building was opened for worship in 1856.

The church is inspired by neoclassical canons. It presents a central plan pivoting on a large hemispherical dome but with the transverse axis slightly shorter than the longitudinal one, further prolonged by the deep apsidal chancel. Four ellipsoidal domes cover the compartments at the corners of the building while another hemispherical dome finds its place in the presbytery compartment.

In addition to the scenic interplay of the profiles of the domes and the bell tower, built only in 1899, the exterior is characterized by the sinuous course of the apses and the white, two-level facade, punctuated by pilasters and crowned by a curvilinear pediment. The niches accommodate statues of the apostles, by Cano himself, while the niches inside the building contain stucco statues depicting the apostles made by Salvatore Demeglio and dated 1858.

Despite some inconsistencies attributable to troubled construction events, the San Pantaleo is considered the highest achievement of the Sassarese architect friar.