Orani, Church of San Giovanni Battista

The Convent is located in the historic center but can be easily reached along the course, where there are detailed signs.
The church is built on a hill close to a ridge that from the building takes the name of “sa costa e cumbentu” and to get there you have to go into the narrow streets of the historic center.
We know from sources that the church was built in the 18th century, in the place where the ancient church of San Sisto stood. The new building was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, who is also the protector of the Franciscan convent that was attached to the Sanctuary. The old building, according to an ancient document preserved in the Orani library, had been restored and expanded in 1628 by Father Leonardo Carta at his own expense, but at the end of the seventeenth century it was unsafe and unusable. This construction also took many years, especially to complete some side chapels and the choir, which was still under construction in 1730.
The interior consists of a single-aisle room, with the narrowest and most elevated presbytery area, where there is the main marble altar, leaning against the wall with the wooden statue of Saint John the Baptist. The presbyterial area is delimited by a marble balustrade from the late eighteenth century and at the base of the staircase two little lions in polychrome stucco.
There are six chapels, three on each side, and the chapel of Saint Francis was under the patronage of the Angioi family, who could exercise jus sepeliendi. The wooden pulpit, extensively painted, rests on a column of red granite and is leaning against the second pillar to the right of the altar. In the decoration of the central panel, the Franciscan coat of arms is carved: the cross of Jesus embraced by the left arm of Saint Francis, which receives the stigmata, and by the right arm of Jesus.
Outside, an airy pronaos and the square-shaped bell tower, which harmonizes well with the whole complex. Characteristic is the large square, typical of convent architecture. In ancient times, a loggia occupied the west side, demolished during the fascist period in order to build the building called Casa del Fascio, headquarters of the party during the Second World War.
After the suppression of religious orders (1866) and the confiscation of assets by the State, the convent passed to the Municipality, which used it in various ways: schools, pretura, mandatory prisons. Today, the ancient structure has become the seat of the town hall while the population is left with the concession of the church to be able to officiate the mass.
By examining the plans of the building drawn up by the various designers who worked on the restoration and adaptation works, the layout of the first floor can be identified. This has an inverted L shape with two long central corridors and you can still identify the cells or chambers, about 14 or 15. The ground floor is the one that has undergone the most changes and it is therefore difficult to determine which were the rooms of the Franciscan community; however, inside you can still see some old windows, some doors and the hemispherical dome that joined the two very long corridors, where the cloistered rooms overlooked.

Bibliography by
M. Chironi, The Convent of the Friars Minor of Orani, Nuoro, 1997;
G. Zirottu, Orani, Nuoro, 2000.